14/10/2005
World Food Day To Be Marked Around The World

More than 150 countries around the world will observe World Food Day with special events, seminars, conferences, contests and media campaigns. World Food Day is celebrated every year on October 16 marking the anniversary of the founding of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1945. The theme this year - Agriculture and Intercultural Dialogue - recalls the contribution of different cultures to world agriculture. Civilisation is founded on agriculture, say FAO, adding that throughout history, the intercultural movement of crops and livestock breeds has revolutionised diets, improved nutrition and reduced poverty.

Africa has given the world coffee, now a popular beverage worldwide. Asia domesticated rice, which then became the staple food for over half of the world's population. Wheat from the Middle East became the dominant crop in North America and Europe. The potato brought from South America by the Spanish Conquistadores" in the sixteenth century became the main staple food for millions in Europe and elsewhere.

The World Food Day theme also recalls that intercultural dialogue is a precondition for progress against hunger and environmental degradation, the history of agriculture being full of examples of important intercultural exchanges, FAO said.

Intercultural dialogue between developing countries facing similar food and agriculture problems is an important way of sharing expertise and technologies. Intercultural exchanges in the field of agriculture also take place at international meetings and trade negotiations. They help to create interaction and synergies between countries and nations.

At FAO's Rome headquarters, the World Food Day ceremony on Sunday (16 October) includes an address by FAO Director-General Dr. Jacques Diouf and a speech by Italy's Minister of Agricultural and Forestry Policies Mr Gianni Alemanno. A Civil Society Forum on the theme of Agriculture and Intercultural Dialogue, will be held in the afternoon.