In the human activities for survival, food underpins the civilization and welfare of humankind, and it also serves as a fundamental guarantee for global stability and development.

In reflection of the aspirations of humankind for stable and steady food supply, 20th Conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) held in November 1979 designated October 16 as the World Food Day and decided to observe it on an annual basis.

The designation of World Food Day is based on the purpose to raise awareness of all countries and peoples of the world about the importance of food problem and to promote an in-depth discussion on an international scope for highlighting the urgency of addressing global food problem and seeking the ways and means for its solution, including the issue of lifting poverty and hunger by increased food production.

International organizations including WFP and FAO and a number of countries over the world have exerted ceaseless efforts to overcome year-over-year food crisis and to improve food security.

On October 9, the Nobel Prize Committee decided to award Nobel Peace Prize of 2020 to WFP in appreciation of its contribution to peacemaking through its activities for lifting hunger and supplying food to the conflict zones at a time when international solidarity and multilateral cooperation are more badly needed than ever before.

FAO is also concentrating the efforts in close cooperation with its member states on achieving Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) for zero hunger by implementing several measures such as an initiative for establishing an international organization for digital agricultural technology and the “Hand in Hand” initiative for providing more efficient aid to the countries in need of technical manpower and funds.

China, Cuba, Indonesia, Nigeria and many other countries are directing efforts into further securing arable lands for increased food production, imbuing their peoples with economy consciousness and crisis consciousness, encouraging micro-farming and putting agriculture on a digital and IT footing under a high goal of attaining self-sufficiency in food.

In our country, under the wise leadership of Kim Jong Un , Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, the agricultural front is placed at the forefront of the national economy and the nationwide attention and investments are focused on the agricultural front. As a result, modern Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory has been wonderfully built, the construction of 80 km-long gravity-fed waterways in South Hwanghae Province completed and advanced farming techniques and methods are studied and introduced, and all these are bringing considerable results to the field of agriculture.

Even under the challenging conditions where large areas of farmland and huge amount of crops have been lost due to the damages caused by the floods, heavy rains and typhoon that came with unprecedentedly increased frequency, we are striving to minimize the damage to crops by taking it as the most important task under the direct guidance of the Party and the state.

Notwithstanding the active international cooperation and endeavor for resolving food crisis, the world is yet facing tremendous challenges and difficulties, and the food crisis continues to pose a grave threat to the survival and development of humankind.

At a video conference organized in April by the United Nations Security Council under the theme of “Protect the Civilians from Conflict Induced Hunger”, the Director General of FAO and the Executive Director of WFP stated that the world is facing another pandemic which is hunger and the global population suffering from hunger are estimated at 821 million. And they called upon the world leaders to make concerted efforts to break the vicious cycle of food crisis.

Achieving food security is not an issue simply for lifting hunger, but an issue directly related to the future of country and nation and one of the core issues for ensuring global peace and security.

We will continue, as ever, to strengthen exchange and cooperation with FAO, WFP and other international organizations and with the countries around the world so as to contribute positively to the global efforts for ensuring food security, improving nutrition and achieving the SDGs.