Overview of World Food Day celebrations in 2004

The FAO has recently published the overall outcomes of the celebrations of World Food Day (WFD) all around gathering all the information collected on its website www.fao.org/wfd. Farmers’ groups, public institutions, international organizations, private sector, NGOs and civil society were involved in the WFD celebration in member countries at all levels.

According to the report, more and more countries in all regions are commemorating World Food Day. Various ministries and FAO National Committees worked hard at organising ceremonies, seminars, food fairs, field visits, exhibits, and the like. The WFD 2004 theme, “Biodiversity for food security”, and messages from the FAO and government officials were delivered to numerous people through wide media exposure such as radio and television media coverage; and newspaper supplements, and articles in various print media.

During 2004, the celebration of Rural Women’s Day in October coincided with the main observance of World Food Day 2004 in several countries such as, Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Congo, Liberia, Kingdom of Tonga, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Uruguay, Austria and in Italy.

This WFD celebration was also a good opportunity for many countries to award prizes to successful rural producers, particularly rural women and experts from scientific societies.

WFD 2004 was celebrated together with the International Year of Rice (IYR) in certain countries such as, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Laos, the Philippines, Rwanda and in Viet Nam. Many government agencies, farmers’ organizations, educational institutions, private sector enterprises and ordinary citizens participated in this extraordinary celebration of one of the world's most important food crops.

For more information on 2004 WFD, please click here.