The FAO in Chad celebrated the 44th World Food Day (WFD) on October 16, 2024 at the Maison de la Femme. The celebration of the 44th World Food Day 2024, which also marks the 79th anniversary of the FAO, was attended by United Nations system organizations, Chadian authorities, agricultural NGOs and producers. The ceremony was enhanced by an exhibition of agricultural products.
“Right to Food for a Better Life and Future” was the theme of the WFD 2024 celebration. According to the FAO, farmers around the world produce enough food to feed more than the world’s population, but hunger persists. 783 million people face hunger due to conflict, repeated climatic shocks and economic downturns. This situation hits the poor and vulnerable hardest, many of whom are farming households.
To ensure a better future, according to Pascal REYNJENS, Head of Mission/Representative of United Nations Migration Organizations, every person has the right to food, life, liberty and education, which are recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by legally binding international covenants. Pascal REYNJENS therefore calls on governments to integrate the right to food into policies and programs on agri-food systems, in order to guarantee equal access for all to an adequate and varied range of nutritious, healthy and affordable food.
In his speech at the launch of the campaign, the Minister of Agricultural Production and Industrialization, Keda Ballah, appealed to everyone’s conscience. For him, agriculture, livestock farming, forestry and fishing must strengthen the food production system in order to feed a growing population.
In view of its strategic positioning in favor of Family Farming, the FAO invited Inades-Formation Tchad to take part in the Day. To this end, Inades-Formation Tchad has mobilized its technical staff and the producers who benefit from its projects, to give a special touch to World Food Day 2024. Through its theme: “The Right to Food for a Better Life and Future”, Inades-Formation Tchad delivered messages on “AlimenTERRE Awareness” to the public who had come for the occasion.
The AlimenTERRE Conscience Campaign is a project of the Inades-Formation network targeting African countries, with a focus on the countries where Inades-Formation is based: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Kenya, DR Congo, Tanzania, Rwanda and Togo. The word AlimenTERRE is specifically used to draw attention to the intrinsic link between the quality of the land, which depends on how it too is nurtured and cared for, and the quality of the food it produces for the healthy, sustainable nourishment of populations.
So, on the educational and awareness-raising materials, the kakemonos, we read: Conscience Alimentaire. “Food is a Right and Eating is a Vote.” This is an invitation to us, as citizens, to get involved with governments to make the right to food a reality in Africa, through our food choices and the self-control of our behavior, in relation to our roles as consumers and/or distributors. These choices must be made consciously, and public policies must be monitored to ensure that governments respect their obligations with regard to the right to food. For the right to food is the right to have regular, permanent and free access, either directly or through monetary purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food.
The AlimenTERRE Conscience Campaign also focuses on the relationship between soil and food production. “Healthy soils for healthy life. Healthy soils for healthy food production” on the one hand, and “Healthy soils for healthy life. Personal protective equipment as a barrier against pesticides”. In other words, the soil in which food is grown must be spared the chemicals and pesticides that can deplete it. Not only do these pesticides destroy the soil, but agricultural products grown with them can also cause certain diseases. Growers need to be aware of how dangerous these chemicals can be. These messages were explained at length to the public as they visited the stands.
Producers from Madana, Mailao, Angoudoum Daoud and Tchentchou, all in the Chari department of the Chari-Baguirmi province, and processors from the city of N’Djamena, mobilized for the event, exhibited their agricultural and processed products. Inades-Formation technical staff were on hand to present Inades-Formation brochures and booklets. During the official visit, the Minister of Agricultural Production and Industrialization, the Minister of Livestock and the Head of Mission/Representative of the United Nations Migration Organizations exchanged and purchased brochures and booklets with the Inades-Formation Tchad team.
DJIKOLOUM Manassé
Communication and Advocacy and Advocacy
