U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said that “food and nutritional security are the foundations to a decent life,” in a message delivered to mark World Food Day. “For the first time in history, more than one billion people are hungry,” Ban said, adding that erratic food prices, the global economic crisis, climate change, and conflict all have contributed to the increase in the world's hungry. The secretary-general called for nations to show “adequate political and financial support” in responding to emergency food relief programs. He also called for investment in food production and distribution, especially for smallholder farmers in developing countries. According to a U.N. report released earlier this week, 30 countries need emergency food aid, including 20 in Africa. In her message marking the day, Josette Sheeran, the head of the U.N. food agency, said that, “World Food Day is actually ‘No Food Day' for almost one out of every six people around the world this year.” “Our challenge is to turn ‘No Food Day' back into ‘World Food Day' for the hundreds of millions without food on their table tonight,” she added.
