Feedback, farmers, and, World Food Day messages

Re BAGSAKAN last October 16 in UP Cebu, UP Professor and fellow TF columnist Binibining Ligaya (Gaying) Rabago wrote – “Hurot dayon mga gulay ug rootcrops sa UP Cebu campus ganina...wala koy napalit kay past 1pm na pud ko niadto!”

This message to us from the Public Information Office of UP Cebu will be happy news for Bb. Gaying and those who may be interested to meet, support our farmers --there will be a next Bagsakan this Sunday, October 20, at the Redemptorist Church from 7 A.M. to 5 P.M.!

For the 10th anniversary of the Cebu Farmers’ Market today, October 19, expect these added highlights:

CFM partner and our go-to agriculture/biogas/organic piggery specialist Bob Bajenting messaged: “Hurrray, big cheers to CFM. Will attend, show posters, tarpaulins of Community Organized Supported Organic Garden (COSOG)- as prototype demo farm 175 sqm with rain capture 1440 liters impounded on an canvass pond liner. This is Regenerative Agric Farming System to showcase Resiliency!”

Hal Atienza, coordinator of Global Seed Savers, sent this happy info – “will be selling organic seeds from our seed sanctuary farm in Bogo.”

In their FB page, this message – “This #WorldFoodDay (October 16), we recognize that access to healthy/sustainable food is a fundamental right.

“At Global Seed Savers, we believe that food justice begins with seed sovereignty. Join us today as we honor the power of seed sovereignty in ensuring that farmers have the resources they need to grow diverse/sustainable/nutritious food.

“Seeds are the foundation of every food system — without them, we lose our ability to grow nutritious crops that can withstand climate challenges (the Philippines is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world) and feed our families.

“Without high-quality, local seeds, there is no food. By supporting and partnering with communities to save, share, and plant resilient seeds, we are cultivating a more just and sustainable food system for generations to come.

“Each seed saved is a seed of change for a more food-secure Philippines.”

Finally, these following messages for 2024 #WorldFoodDay celebrated every October 16:

From Qu Dongyu, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “food is a basic right and this year’s World Food Day theme “Right to Foods for a Better Life and a Better Future” is a timely reminder that all people have the right to adequate foods.”

He called for a renewed “commitment to build more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable agrifood systems that can nourish the world and “support smallholder farmers, family farmers and small business people across the value chain who, in many countries, are fundamental to making nutritious, diverse foods available to all, and to preserving traditional food cultures.”

With around 730 million people facing hunger and more than 2.8 billion people globally unable to afford healthy diets, “there is no time to lose, we must take immediate action.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres agreed – “Something is very wrong with a world in which hunger and malnutrition are a fact of life for billions of children, women and men. A zero-hunger world is possible, but food systems need a massive transformation, to become more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable.”

Pope Francis called on “political and economic decision-makers at the international level to listen to the demands of those at the bottom of the food chain, such as small-scale farmers, and of intermediate social groups, such as the family, who are directly involved in feeding people.”

Sadly, the small-scale farmers who produce almost half of the world’s food are also struggling with hunger and poverty.

Gérardine Mukeshimana, vice president of International Fund for Agricultural Development, called for “urgent, collective and concrete investments in rural poor farmers to realize --at an absolute minimum-- their basic right to nutritious food.”