wfd and anti-mcdd

october 16th is world food day:

World Food Day (WFD) was established by FAO's Member Countries at the Organization's Twentieth General Conference in November 1979. It has since been observed every year in more than 150 countries, raising awareness of the issues behind poverty and hunger.

Since 1981, World Food Day has adopted a different theme each year, in order to highlight areas needed for action and provide a common focus. The theme for 2006 is "Investing in agriculture for food security". It was chosen because only investment in agriculture – together with support for education and health – will turn this situation around. The bulk of that investment will have to come from the private sector, with public investment playing a crucial role, especially in view of its facilitating and stimulating effect on private investment. In spite of the importance of agriculture as the driving force in the economies of many developing countries, this vital sector is frequently starved of investment. In particular, foreign aid to agriculture has shown marked declines over the past 20 years.

Seventy percent of the world’s hungry people live in rural areas, where agriculture either puts food in stomachs directly or, through employment in a flourishing agricultural and food processing sector, puts money to buy food into people’s pockets. At the World Food Summit in 1996, Heads of State and Government from around the world committed themselves to promoting public and private investments in agriculture as a contribution to the goal of reducing by half the number of hungry people by 2015. The first Millennium Development Goal reiterates the target of reducing hunger and extreme poverty by half by that date. In 2003, African Heads of State and Government, in the “Maputo Declaration”, committed their governments to allocating at least 10 percent of national budgets for agriculture and rural development within five years. Despite the need, however, foreign aid for agriculture and rural development has continued to decline. Over the past 20 years, it has fallen dramatically – from over US$9 billion per year in the early 1980s to less than US$5 billion in the late 1990s. Yet an estimated 854 million people around the world remain undernourished. The current extent of food security across the world was highlighted in a report by FAO released October 9 2006, which said that 40 countries were facing food emergencies and required external assistance.

it is also anti-mcdonald's day:

Every year on October 16th people all over the World come together in peaceful protest against this corporate junk food giant to raise awareness about subjects such as McDonalds damaging the environment, exploiting workers, cruelty towards animals and for targeting youth in their ad campaigns. The date of protest was started by the London branch of Greenpeace in 1985 and was chosen because October 16th is also the United Nations World Food Day.
You can visit the official anti McDonalds site here for more information on the company and can also download a version of their “whats wrong with McDonalds” leaflet to learn more about why there is controversy behind the Mc Giant.

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-- food first/institute for food and development policy --

-- worldwatch institute: food issues --