I almost let World Food Day go by without a post about it. Almost. Today is World Food Day which is celebrated by countries all over the world. The FAO holds a ceremony at its headquarters in Rome. The current FAO Director-General addressed the ceremony today along with other dignitaries.

“The theme for World Food Day this year is investing in agriculture for food security so that the whole world will profit,” said Dr. Diouf.

The FAO Director-General said that “in 2002, FAO estimated that the combined extra public cost of all investment to meet the 2015 World Food Summit target is around US$19 billion for agricultural growth and productivity enhancement in rural areas and US$5 billion for programmes which provide direct and immediate access to food for those in greatest need.”

“Increasing the volume of public investment in agriculture but also making it more effective are of absolute necessity. One major mechanism is the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, a consortium of 26 development agencies, which seeks to improve donor aid effectiveness and focus action on achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” stated Dr. Diouf.

In a message from Pope Benedict XVI, read by Monsignor Renato Volante Permanent Observer of the Holy See to FAO, the Pope said that “Investment in the agricultural sector has to allow the family to assume its proper place and function”; “local communities also need to be involved in choices and decisions concerning land use, since farmland is being diverted increasingly to other purposes, often with damaging effects on the environment.”