World Food Day: Four reflections to inspire action

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OPINION

By Yergalem Taages Beraki, FAO Representative in Uganda (a.i)

Today, October 16^th, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) joins the Government of Uganda and other partners to commemorate World Food Day.

Celebrated every year, World Food Day serves as a poignant reminder that despite strides made, food insecurity and malnutrition remain ever-present challenges. This day also commemorates FAO’s founding 80 years ago on this day.

On this World Food Day, here are my four takeaways to reflect upon:

Food security remains a challenge in Uganda

Uganda’s potential to become East Africa’s food basket is often touted.  Notwithstanding the promise, hunger levels in the country remain worryingly classified by the 2025 Global Hunger Index as “serious”. According to FAO’s Hunger map, the three-year average for the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in Uganda’s total population is 54.6 percent.

Of particular concern is the Karamoja subregion. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report of the year 2025 indicates that the sub-region has the most districts whose food security status is at a “crisis” level.  Moroto, for example, has an acute malnutrition rate of 20.4 percent. To achieve SDG two of Zero Hunger by 2030, we must transform our agrifood systems. The humble, rudimentary hoe has served us well. In 2025, it should be integrated with modern and yet affordable technologies lest on its own, it is a relic of the past. We need to scale up sustainable agriculture mechanisation and water for production on our farms.

Quantity matters. Quality matters more

Access to enough food all year round to satisfy hunger alone is not enough. Food should be nutritious to meet the dietary requirements of every Ugandan to live a healthy life.

According to the latest IPC report, over 400,000 children, aged from six to 59 months, and 84,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women are either suffering or expected to suffer acute malnutrition across 43 districts in Uganda from March 2025 to February 2026. Therefore, there is an urgent need to tackle malnutrition decisively through increasing access to diverse locally available nutritious foods, among other empirically tested nutrition-specific interventions.

The climate is changing. Food systems must change, too

Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns continue to wreak havoc on Uganda’s agriculture sector, which has traditionally been the most dependent on the climate.

Visibly, extreme climate events such as prolonged dry spells, devastating floods and shifts in growing seasons are now commonplace. The changing climate is affecting the productivity of some of Uganda’s best-performing crops. For example, important crops such as millet and maize are vulnerable to heat stress, while matooke and beans, vital staples in our diets, are susceptible to pests and diseases. The changing climate affects the productivity of livestock and the quality of products such as milk and meat.

We must adapt to the changing times. We must embrace climate-smart agriculture technologies, which are context-specific, such as intercropping, adoption of more heat-resilient crop varieties and embracing of integrated soil fertility management, among other measures.

Food matters require collaboration

The year’s World Food Day theme is ‘Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future.’ The essence is to summon the collaborative spirit in each of us to realise a food-secure Uganda. Matters of food are complex and thus must be addressed in a holistic and coordinated manner.

As FAO, we commit to continue supporting the Government of Uganda’s efforts to eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. I call upon stakeholders in civil society, the private sector, and academia to join this journey.