Hanoi, Viet Nam. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Viet Nam mark the 41st World Food Day and the 76th anniversary of FAO with a joint event.

World Food Day 2021, with the theme “Our actions are our future – Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life”, aims to raise awareness of the need for supporting the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems. It calls for actions across sectors to ensure that our agri- food systems deliver enough affordable, safe and nutritious food for everyone everywhere to lead active and healthy lives.

This year, World Food Day is celebrated a second time during the COVID-19 pandemic, whose repercussions disrupted agri-food systems. It triggered an unprecedented global economic recession resulting in a dramatic loss of livelihoods and incomes and increased food insecurity and inequality. The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined that an urgent change of route is needed. It has made it even harder for farmers - already affected by climate variability and extremes - to sell their harvests, while rising poverty is pushing an increased number of city residents to use food banks, and millions of people require emergency food aid. We need sustainable agri-food systems that are capable of sustaining 10 billion people by 2050.

Although people are conscious that our health and well-being depend on the availability of and access to nutritious foods, many are unfamiliar with the concept ‘agri-food systems’ – how we participate in these systems on a daily basis and how our choices and actions impact them. A sustainable agri-food system is one in which a variety of sufficient, nutritious and safe foods is available at an affordable price to everyone, and nobody is hungry or suffers from any form of malnutrition. The shelves are stocked at the local market or food store, but less food is wasted and the food supply chain is more resilient to shocks such as extreme weather, price spikes or pandemics, all while limiting, rather than worsening, environmental degradation or climate change. In fact, sustainable agri-food systems deliver food security and nutrition for all, without compromising the economic, social and environmental bases, for generations to come. They lead to better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

In September, the United Nations Secretary-General convened the very first Food System Summit to forge consensus on bold new actions to transform the way the world produces and consumes food, with an aim to get back on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. For the first time, a comprehensive approach towards agri-food systems transformation was adopted at the event in order to fight poverty and hunger, reduce inequalities and preserve the environment. In his remarks, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu pledged that FAO would take the leadership role in implementing the outcomes and work with all to transform agri-food systems. Also at this Summit, during the national dialogues, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed Vietnam’s commitment in transforming food systems in a “transparent, responsible, and sustainable” manner.

As FAO Director-General QU Dongyu mentioned in his speech on the occasion of World Food Day 2021, “as producers, distributors or consumers, we each have the power to make a positive impact on the transformation”. The future of food is in our hands and together we can rewrite the story, starting from today.