TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - FAO Indonesia kicked off the campaign for the 2018 World Food Day under the banner Road to Zero Hunger in the city of Bandung, West Java, on August 5.
This campaign is part of the awareness-raising program for Indonesians, especially for youth and millennials, about food and nutrition issues challenges in reaching “Zero Hunger” by 2030 as mandated under the Sustainable Development Goals.
The campaign team is on the road in August until October in four cities in Indonesia, including Yogyakarta, Kendari, Jakarta, and Banjarmasin.
The campaign is working under the global theme of 2018 World Food Day "Our Actions are Our Future; Zero Hunger 2030 is possible". According to the United Nations, more than 815 million people still suffer from chronic malnutrition, and the number increased by 38 million from 2015. In Indonesia, 20 million people are still experiencing food insecurity and one among three children in Indonesia, even in West Java, experience chronic malnutrition or stunting.
FAO Indonesia partnered with community activators to stage an event on “Cooking on the Weekend” (Masak Akhir Pekan or MAP) in Bandung, which included discussions with students of the Faculty of Food Industry at Padjdajaran University about the path for the country to reach Zero Hunger.
Rakha Zakhar Zaihan, a student in Agricultural Technology Industry from Padjadjaran University Bandung said that in this millennium information is an effective weapon to raise people’s awareness. “Information can be spread within seconds, especially through the internet and social media. We should use power of this age to spread the key messages of zero hunger, and inspire the youth to take action, “he said.
FAO Indonesia also contributed to the largest annual Food Festival in Bandung "Keuken No.9" by presenting the Organization’s programs, providing nutritional consultations and cooking together with communities whilst explaining the advantages of dietary diversity and nutrition in meals.
"We want everyone, especially young people as well as food and culinary influencers, to realize that we still have many challenges to stop hunger in Indonesia by 2030, with simple actions like eating more diverse foods, avoiding food waste and cooking meals correctly to improve nutrition“, said Stephen Rudgard, FAO Representative in Indonesia.
MAP, a portal to the youth movement on food and cuisine, aims to increase young people’s awareness to improve their understanding of food and agriculture, while also celebrating the richness of Indonesian traditional cuisine.
“The "Cooking on the Weekend” movement (MAP) invites the young generation to be aware of the richness of Indonesia’s food diversity. We believe a casual style of cooking together is a powerful medium to start the discussion about food, agriculture and all the related issues”, said Farah Mauludynna, one of the initiators of the MAP movement.
The “Road to Zero Hunger” movement will also draw attention to the fact that while hunger is on the rise, over 600 million people suffer from obesity and a further 1.3 billion are overweight.
Achieving Zero Hunger means working together to ensure that everyone, everywhere, has access to sufficient, safe, and healthy food. It calls on everyone to adopt a new mindset and change some of their day-to-day behaviors in order to eat more healthy food, to reduce waste, use the Earth’s resources wisely, and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.*)
