Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Food and nutrition security

World Food Day: international agencies call for urgent action against food insecurity

Tiempo de lectura: 3 mins.

Through a commemorative event in Brazil, IICA, FAO, IFAD and WFP will call attention to the need to cooperate to transform agrifood systems.

El lema de la conmemoración será: “No dejar a nadie atrás – mejor producción, mejor nutrición, mejor medio ambiente y una vida mejor”.

Brasilia, 14 October 2022 (IICA). The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), FAO, IFAD and WFP will hold an event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 16 to commemorate World Food Day 2022. More than 40 authorities from the food and agriculture sector will be in attendance.

Regarding the commemoration, the Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero, highlighted the key importance of Latin America and the Caribbean as a guarantor of the planet’s food and nutritional security and a pillar for environmental sustainability and biodiversity.

“Considering this regional position, the confluence of crises requires that we channel efforts towards assisting vulnerable populations as well as facilitating intra-regional and international trade in an urgent and sustainable manner. We must promote a true partnership that can bolster agricultural trade in Latin America and the Caribbean. This involves joining efforts among countries and strengthening the bodies responsible for coordinating sectoral policies, driving collective action for the benefit of everyone”, said Otero.

“At the same time, we must undertake significant coordinated efforts in the fields of science, technology and innovation, developing the requisite framework of public policies and investments. We must also set ambitious goals: specifically, to ensure that our agrifood systems utilize natural resources as efficiently as possible, generate decent jobs with social inclusion, provide healthy diets and are environmentally sustainable”, he added.

In closing, Otero noted that “the war in Eastern Europe has further reaffirmed the fact that food security is at the top of the planet’s concerns and that the American continent is strengthening its leading and relevant role as a guarantor of healthy and abundant food at the global level”.

Around the world, approximately 3 billion people lack access to healthy food and 828 million people suffer from hunger; these issues have been further aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Eastern Europe.

At the event in Rio de Janeiro, FAO, WFP, IFAD and IICA will bring together organizations from various sectors to highlight the urgent and collective need to guarantee access to healthy food for all people.

The motto of the commemoration will be: “Leave no one behind—better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life”.

On the night of Sunday, October 16, famous landmarks in Rio de Janeiro, such as the Christ the Redeemer statue, the Carioca Aqueduct, the monument to Estácio de Sá, and the Moorish Castle of the Fiocruz Foundation will be illuminated in blue, the color that identifies the World Food Day 2022 campaign.

In attendance at the ceremony to light up the Christ the Redeemer statue will be:
● Rafael Zavala of FAO in Brazil;
● Daniel Balaban, WFP Representative in Brazil;
● Gabriel Delgado, IICA Representative in Brazil; and
● Julio Worman, IFAD Program Analyst in Brazil.

Broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlcaPF_4zSU

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int

Share

Related news​

Santa Fé, Darién, Panamá

September 4, 2025

Coordination between IICA and Panamanian and U.S. government authorities bolsters the fight against New World screwworm in Central America and Mexico

As part of the efforts to curb the spread of the New World screwworm (NWS), a current health threat in Central America and Mexico, the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA) of Panama, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Panama-United States Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm (COPEG) organized a meeting with livestock farmers in the city of Santa Fé de Darién to strengthen health surveillance and better protect local livestock production.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

El Director General del IICA, Manuel Otero, reafirmó en la inauguración de Biohélice 2025 el compromiso del Instituto con la bioeconomía como eje estratégico para transformar el agro y revitalizar los territorios rurales. En el acto lo acompañaron la Directora General de CINDE, Marianela Urgellés; el Rector de la UNA, Jorge Herrera; y el presidente de CRBiomed, Álvaro Peralta.

San Jose, Costa Rica

September 3, 2025

Specialists and partners at a meeting spearheaded by IICA view the bioeconomy as essential in positioning Costa Rica and the Americas as leaders in sustainability and production transformation

The bioeconomy specialists were participating in Biohélice 2025, an event organized by Costa Rica’s Universidad Nacional, the CRBiomed association and IICA, which brought together more than 130 participants with an interest in innovation and bioeconomy.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

Alagoas, Brasil

September 1, 2025

Eliane Faria de Souza, a fisherwoman from Northeastern Brazil combining old traditions with innovative ideas to protect the environment, is named an IICA Leader of Rurality of the Americas

Eliane works with other women in the region to transform polluting waste substances into organic fertilizer.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins