World Food Day
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October 16, 2011
On World Food Day, we must be thankful for our bounty in Canada and remember the one billion who are not as fortunate and face hunger daily.
Global food security continues to be a key development challenge of the international community. Hunger affects people in the most fundamental way. People who are hungry cannot learn, cannot work, and find themselves unable to take care of themselves or their family
Since June of this year, more than 30 countries―23 of them in Africa ― have faced severe food crises. This calls for concrete action by the international community to provide the humanitarian food assistance needed in regions most severely affected by famine, such as in the Horn of Africa.
This also calls for long-term sustainable increased efforts to improve agricultural capacities in many countries.
I know that no child should face hunger or starvation. We must ensure that the international community continues its fight to make sure that not only is food available for all but that it be the right food. Only by focusing on sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and research and the development of new crop types and technologies will we be able to provide a healthy productive future for all.
Beverley J. Oda
Minister of International Cooperation