World Food Day celebrations in African countries

Various countries prepared World Food Day celebrations with events, exhibitions, conferences and media transmissions focusing on the Theme: International Alliance Against Hunger.

In some countries like Lesotho and Morocco, the 16th of October was observed as a national and official day. Moreover, in Lesotho, the celebrations covered all the ten administrative districts from 1st of October until the 23rd . In Morocco, a two-day national workshop on Globalization, food security and health security took place just before the WFD and a two-day congress on quality and food security was held right after the WFD.

In Guinea, the FAO representative in collaboration with governments, Non Governmental Organizations and Civil society launched the National Alliance Against Hunger in collaboration with other actors in development. For the World Food Day celebrations, a working session was organized by FAO and Caritas Internationalis to share experiences and strengthen the partnership. During the WFD, an exhibition entitled "Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Telefood production" promoted local producers. A national workshop to validate the National Strategies for Food Security, elaborated in a participative basis by the government with the FAO technical assistance and financial assistance of European Union was held on 15 October.

In Ghana as well, the FAO representative organized a series of events as part of the World Food Day/ Telefood activities. An adult education program on WFD was aired on Ghana Television (GTV) from 1-6 October; musical shows to create awareness and fundraisings activities for Telefood such as Football matches are planned for November.

In Tunisia, a debate on the WFD theme was held as well as a workshop with members of the Association of Food Technologies and Sciences from the 20-26 October while an annual workshop is planned with members of the Federation of Women Agriculturalist and the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fishing. An exhibition on FAO documentation and its website as well as WAICENT demonstration will be presented during the "Salon de l'Agriculture, du Machinisme Agricole et de la Pêche (SIAMAP) 2003" from the 1st to the 5th of October.

This year, the South African National Department of Agriculture will hold the Female Farmer of the Year Competition together with its celebrations of World Food Day to recognize and give importance to the role that women play in agriculture, particularly in addressing food insecurity and poverty alleviation. Every year, the competition's theme is linked to the WFD theme and this year's celebration will focus on the International Alliance Against Hunger. Several other provinces and selected institutions will be celebrating WFD 2003 in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of health and Social Welfare.

In Uganda, since the beginning of September, the FAO representation in this country along with local government, NGO and private partners decided to celebrate this year's WFD with a host of projects on the theme "International Alliance Against Hunger" and exhibits related to production and food security reflecting the WFD theme were conducted at the national WFD venue. Radio and TV brought the FAO World Food Day message to local population through talk shows, essays and art competitions on food security and the WFD theme. On the same theme, a symposium held on 13 October allowed a visit to a model village with a demonstration of best practices. Throughout all the month of October, there will be celebrations in the different districts of Uganda.

In Libya, various ceremonies, exhibits and debates are organized by the FAO representation, jointly with the Authority for the Development of Date palms, the University of Omar Al Mukhtar, the Agriculture Research Center, the National Centre for Food Safety and Quality Control, and the Municipality of El-Bieda, in Jebel Akhadar in the North eastern part of the country where this year's WFD Celebrations was held. Medals awards, refreshments in form of dates and milk, handcrafts made in dates and an exhibit of the various types of dates products are the most particular events held during the WFD celebration in this country.