04 May 2016•Update: 05 May 2016
ANTALYA, Turkey
Food access is key to world peace, Turkish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Faruk Celik said Wednesday.
In his address on the first day of the three-day session of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Regional Conference for Europe in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, Celik said: "Today, the key to international peace is access to food.
“Approximately, 500 million adults are obese and some 800 million people in the world do not have enough food. Each year, 1.3 billion tons of food gets wasted, the world does not have sufficient food to feed 34 countries, 27 of which are in Africa."
He said the UN body has an important mission on its hands to end world hunger.
“When we look at food waste in the world, just by reducing wastage of food, we could potentially end global hunger. As world population increases, the main duty of governments become ensuring easy and cheap access to food," he said.
“According to projections, world population will be 10 billion by 2020…We need to increase agricultural productivity in order to meet food needs," the minister added.
He also called for global cooperation to meet United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
"Otherwise, political and social crises like the human tragedy in Syria go beyond borders, even continents, which will disturb world peace," Celik added.
In 2015, a total of 193 countries adopted developmental goals aimed at ending hunger and poverty by 2030.
About agricultural production in Turkey, Celik said the value of its agricultural produce increased to $55 billion and its export to $17 billion.
"Turkey is the seventh-largest agricultural producer in the world and the largest one in Europe with $55 billion agricultural revenues," he said.
In his speech, Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said the 2030 agenda could only be implemented if the international community worked together in partnership with civil society, private sector, research institutions, academia and other relevant actors.
Silva praised Turkey's involvement's in the developmental goals, saying the organization was "grateful to have Turkey as one of our major partners in order to extend technical expertise and better assist neighboring countries, especially in Central Asia."
He also thanked the Turkish government for hosting millions of Syrian refugees. “Migration of refugees must be addressed also at its deepest roots," he added.
He noted that food security helped develop peaceful and stable societies.
"It is difficult to foresee all the challenges of tomorrow in our quest for sustainable development. We are constantly facing new and unexpected situations at national, regional and global levels. We need strength and courage to face these uncertainties and to penetrate these complexities," Silva added.
Representatives of 54 Europe and Central Asia nations are attending the conference, which is jointly organized by the Turkish government and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
