The Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Sri Lanka, Nina Brandstrup and the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) Sri Lanka Country Director Brenda Barton spoke to the Daily News newspaper on World Food Day.

Q. Why do you think is important to mark the World Food Day?

World Food Day is celebrated every year on 16 October to commemorate the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1945. The day serves as an opportunity to raise awareness of the challenges that need to be overcome to create a world free from hunger and malnutrition. The Day is also used to draw the attention of decision makers and the public at large to available solutions. This year, the theme of World Food Day is ZeroHunger, with a call for greater commitment at global and national level to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 by 2030.

Q. Can you give us a brief picture about people in hunger both globally and locally?

The picture of hungry people at the global level is not a positive one. For the last 3 years, the number of people in the world suffering from chronic hunger has increased and today there are 821 million, the same figure as a decade ago. The reasons for the rise are complex and interrelated but contributing factors are wars and conflicts, extreme weather events, climate change and declining economic growth rates. At the same time, changing lifestyles are translating into rising levels of overweight and obesity.

In Sri Lanka, the picture is brighter as chronic hunger is not widespread, but this does not mean that SDG2 has been achieved. In spite of the high level of economic growth, the nutritional status of the population has not improved noticeably over the last 10 years. Too many children do not receive the nutrition that they need in terms of quantity or quality for optimal physical and mental growth. Many women in childbearing age are anaemic and too thin, leading to babies being born with low birth weight, making them more susceptible to diseases. In Sri Lankans as elsewhere, both children and adults, men and women, are also affected by overweight and obesity, putting them at risk of non-communicable diseases.

Q. What are your plans to eradicate hunger in Sri Lanka?

FAO has been working in Sri Lanka for many years to improve the productivity in the agricultural sector for increased food availability and to raise the income and living standards of food producers and the wider population. However, as the country develops and modernizes and reaches self-sufficiency in the staple crops, the activities of FAO in Sri Lanka are adapting to the evolving context. In particular, FAO is promoting nutrition sensitive agriculture to encourage the production of nutrition-rich foods at low cost, taking account of climate change, to improve the access to affordable nutritious food, especially for the poorest. The Organization is embarking on a new initiative to support the relevant authorities to make the national Food Based Dietary Guidelines better known and used in an effort to promote more balanced and nutritious diets in families and institutions such as schools. FAO also plans to continue its work with other UN agencies to support the Government of Sri Lanka to gather and analyse information related to nutrition with a view to making evidence-based decisions.

WFP aims to address the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition and support longer-term recovery and resilience while maintaining emergency-response capacity. Building on its experience over the past 50 years in providing direct, life-saving assistance and improvements to the health and welfare of communities in Sri Lanka, especially women and children, WFP is now shifting its focus to  building national capacity through technical assistance including innovative systems and tools, combined with high level policy and advocacy support. Working in strong partnership with government, and other key stakeholders, these efforts are focused on disaster early warning preparedness and response, improved nutrition, school meal programmes and enhanced resilience to climate change, all to ensure access to food, end malnutrition and improve smallholder productivity and incomes. 

Q. How would the #ZeroHunger world by 2030 be possible?

Zero hunger means that everyone, everywhere has access to the safe, healthy and nutritious food that they need. To achieve this, a number of conditions must be met. Firstly, governments must encourage private sector investments in agriculture to increase production in a sustainable manner. Secondly, to ensure that even the poorest can access food of good quality, social protection systems must be in place. Thirdly, food producers, including the small-scale farmers and fishers who produce most of the world’s food, must adopt new and sustainable production methods to increase productivity and incomes. Fourthly, food production must contribute to the creation of off-farm employment opportunities, particularly in rural areas. Fifthly, initiatives to promote good nutrition and a balanced diet must be scaled up. Last, but not least, people must be spared from conflicts and wars and must be protected from the effects of climate change and disasters. These conditions can be met if everyone, governments, private sector, academia, farmers, fishers, and each individual person play their part.

Q. Do we have to fear for food security?

Food security means all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and to lead an active and healthy life.

With increased climate change and erratic weather, globally and also in Sri Lanka, food security cannot be taken for granted. The levels of wasting or ‘thinness’ amongst children in Sri Lanka is still too high.  Close monitoring of food security and nutrition indicators and studies to understand the causes must be undertaken to inform proper policy development, budgetary allocations, and strategic programme design and implementation, nationally and sub nationally. 

Q. Not only the food but access to clean drinking water is becoming an issue. How would you help us to face this obstacle?

Indeed, water both drinking water and that for hygienic and agricultural usage is core.  Recognizing that climate change is here to stay, and that the dry zones of the country are getting drier, there is an urgent need to make vital investments in the country’s water system combined with the right policies and strategic frameworks, plus coordination amongst the many players who are actively making these vital investments.

Q. When we speak of nutrition, we refer to malnutrition, undernourishment and over-nutrition. What do these terms mean and indicate?

Malnutrition:  Malnutrition – or poor nutrition – encompasses both under nutrition and over nutrition. All types of under nutrition such as not having enough weight for height (wasting), being too short for one’s age (stunting), and not having enough weight gain at the right age (underweight), and micronutrient deficiencies are considered ‘under nutrition’. 

Overweight and obesity are deemed over nutrition which is indicated by high body mass index (BMI).

Undernourishment, in its official meaning as defined by FAO, occurs when food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy levels that are required to maintain a normal active and healthy life. The undernourished are also referred to as suffering from food deprivation.

Q. As a country that has made significant strides ahead in terms of free education and healthcare, and as a country that is gradually moving towards the upper middle income earning spectrum, Sri Lanka however continues to indicate low figures in some of the main nutrition indicators, particularly undernutrition in children under 5. What are the primary reasons for this situation?

The reasons for the high prevalence of malnutrition in the country are being explored by the Government and other stakeholders. WFP and FAO are working with other UN agencies such as UNICEF and WHO to support the Government to understand the root causes.  Recently, WFP introduced a global analysis tool called ‘Fill the Nutrient Gap’ to inform consensus on cost-effective policy and programmatic strategies to improve the nutrition of key target groups.  One of the recognised reasons for the poor nutrition outcomes in Sri Lanka is inadequate practices and behaviours linked to child care, dietary intake, and feeding of children during illnesses.  –WFP and FAO will be working with other partners on initiatives to support behaviour change communication and improve the understanding of caregivers on the importance of a nutritious diet and how to achieve it.

Q. Nutrition does not discriminate, and the implications are felt not only among the rural poor, the estate sector and the most vulnerable, but is also having an adverse impact on the urban population due to high obesity and overweight, particularly in women aged 15-49 years. How can the country overcome this situation?

With rapid urbanization and the more sedentary lifestyles, we are witnessing a shift in diet patterns towards the consumption of more ultra-processed foods, coupled with food consumption - particularly of rice - in excess of the energy required.  Foods with high levels of fat, sugar and salt are increasingly available at low prices and constitute attractive alternatives to healthier, but also costlier foods.  As a consequence, undernutrition and obesity and overweight are now commonly found within the same household or geographical areas.

Addressing this complex issue will require political will and a multi-pronged approach, involving a wide range of stakeholders.  Innovative programmes and interventions to raise awareness on healthy lifestyles – including diet and exercise- to fill the current knowledge gap are required. These can be facilitated through the use of Social and Behaviour Change strategies to promote proper dietary practices and healthy life style habits accompanied by concerted efforts to ensure availability on the market, at affordable prices, of nutritious foods of a kind and a variety appreciated by the consumers.