Mozambique: Food insecurity was reduced by half in the last decade – minister

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Mozambique: Food insecurity was reduced by half in the last decade – minister

9:31 CAT | 24 Oct 2019

Photo: Twitter / @FAOMozambique

Mozambique has made significant strides in reducing levels of food insecurity from 50 to 24 per cent over the past ten years, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Higino de Marrule announced in Maputo on World Food Day.

However, the minister warns that challenges remain regarding access to nutritious food and resilience to climate shocks, which can have a major impact on global and local agricultural production.

“Therefore, our government’s policies are oriented to rural areas, where subsistence agriculture is mostly practised, as a way of leveraging the role of rural women in particular and agricultural producers in general,” the minister told the opening of ceremonies celebrating World Food Day.

Marrule said that world projections indicate that the population would continue to grow exponentially and that demand for food at a global level would also increase, giving Mozambicans an opportunity to make a difference, given the country’s favourable agro-ecological conditions.

“To this end, we would like to continue to count on the support of our cooperation and development partners in implementing programmes and projects aimed at increasing production and productivity, promoting agribusiness and guaranteeing household income,” he said.

He emphasised the importance of nutrition education at all levels, helping people to become more knowledgeable about maintaining a balanced diet and knowing optimal amounts and quality of food for humans at each stage of growth.

Memorable event marking #worldfoodday in Mozambique focusing on solutions for #healthydiets. #zerohunger pic.twitter.com/i5d7DBqdBn

— FAO Mozambique (@FAOMozambique) October 18, 2019

Addressing the same event, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative Hernani da Silva said that the report on the state of food and nutrition security in the world indicated that the prevalence of malnutrition remained largely unchanged since 2015.

“As a result, one in four people are food insecure. But food security in our times is not just a matter of quantity, it’s also a matter of quality and access. Unhealthy diets are a major risk factor in disease and death worldwide,” he said.

He noted that malnutrition, obesity and other forms of malnutrition were growing, and projected to affect one in two people by 2025.

This year’s anniversary is celebrated under the motto “Our Actions are Our Future. A #Zero Hunger world by 2030 is possible”.

World Food Day was established by member countries at the 20th UN Food and Agriculture Conference, in recognition of the importance that food plays in human development.

Source: AIM Moçambique