World Food Day: ‘Leave no one behind’ in fight against hunger

“Leave no one behind” was the theme of World Food Day 2022 on Sunday, 16 October, to raise awareness of food security issues and strengthen solidarity in the fight against hunger.

Food and what people consume has shaped human history, culture, diversity and aesthetics.

People left behind

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a specialised agency of the United Nations said more needs to be done to ensure food security for starving nations.

“Although the globe has made progress toward a better future, “Too many people have been left behind,” said the FAO.

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Alistair Mokoena – country director at Google South Africa said food is necessary for our very survival.

“It brings families together. It defines cultures. In recognition of the influence food has in all of our lives, in 1979 on 16 October, people in over 150 countries started a movement to celebrate World Food Day.”

Concerns

Mokoena said the range of concerns, addressed by the tech community – Google included – spans today from improvements across the whole agroecosystem to choosing more sustainable dishes by consumers.

“In July 2022, we commissioned research that studies how companies can feed over 7 billion people while managing uncertainty and complexity of the modern world.”

“It is clear that food and agriculture companies need solutions throughout the whole farm- to -table journey to help them make food production more efficient; adapt to shifting trends in consumer diets and how or where they buy their food,” he said.

Climate change

Mokoena added that as Gulf countries are disproportionately impacted by the adverse effects of climate change, Google started supporting the Saudi government to help them address environmental, water and agricultural challenges resulting from climate change and using artificial intelligence (AI).

“Embracing technological opportunities, start-ups from Africa such as OKO, provide insurance to smallholder farmers helping them to become more resilient in the face of weather vagaries, providing access to loans and even creating jobs for youngsters.”

“Google invested in this and other start-ups in the region, working toward reaching the Sustainable Goal of the UN,” Mokoena said.

Google collaborations

Last week, Google Cloud announced its collaboration with Kenyan Twiga Foods, an e-commerce platform which connects farmers directly with vendors to bring high quality, locally harvested fresh produce to people every day — increasing accessibility to food items in Kenya.

“With the recently announced intent to establish new Google Cloud regions in South Africa, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, we hope to help more businesses build use cases for technology in production in the future,” Mokoena concluded.

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