(ANSA) - Rome, October 16 - Milan Expo 2015 on Friday is
celebrating World Food Day, a global commitment to eradicate
hunger on the anniversary of the creation of the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on October
16,1945.
UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon will be visiting the
food-themed world's fair, which has topped the 20 million
visitors' mark exactly two weeks before it wraps up on October
31, organizers said.
During the official visit Friday he will be presented with
the Milan Charter, a global food practices initiative that
represents Expo's legacy.
The UN secretary general will be joined by Italian
President Sergio Mattarella, among others, for the opening
ceremony of Expo's celebration of World Food Day.
The official ceremony will commemorate FAO's 70th
anniversary and address the issue at the center of World Food
Day this year - 'Social protection and agriculture: breaking the
cycle of rural poverty' - and its link with the UN theme for the
Universal Exposition which focuses on the zero hunger challenge.
Events planned Friday to mark World Food Day include "Zero
Hunger Generation", a question and answer session on the key
role that new generations will play in achieving the new
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and "Finance for Food",
organized by the economy ministry and the International Fund for
Agriculture Development (IFAD).
And this year's World Food Day will be focusing in
particular on family farming.
According to FAO, more than 90% of the 570 million farms
worldwide are managed by an individual or family.
These small producers have a key role in the economic and
social development of large rural areas but need help to create
a network in order to have more of an impact on the political
and economic choices affecting them.
Meanwhile, Expo on Thursday organized events focusing on
the work carried out by anti-poverty charity Oxfam, a civil
society participant in the world's fair that has been working
for years on the campaign #challengehunger.
The appeal is aimed at defining a concrete action plan to
eradicate hunger by 2030.
"There are 795 million people suffering hunger in the
world, a number that is 13 times higher than the Italian
population", said Roberto Barbieri, the director general of
Oxfam Italy.
Oxfam's initiative in particular focused on female
empowerment and women's role in farming
Barbieri noted that women can play a key role in the fight
against hunger.
"If men and women had equal opportunities worldwide, there
would be 150 million less people suffering hunger", noted
Barbieri.
And another key issue in combating hunger at the center of
the world's fair is food waste.
According to FAO, over one-third of food produced every
year for human consumption - approximately 1.3 billion tons - is
wasted.