Sheikh Dr. Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, Assistant Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, said that this year's World Food Day (October 16th) celebration is under the theme: "Together we grow, feed and maintain sustainability."

It aims to direct attention and urge action towards contributing to food security, human health, agriculture and access to sustainable development.

This year's theme, he pointed out, emphasizes the fundamental role of agriculture in providing food while maintaining sustainability. He further stressed that sustainable agriculture is critical to eradicating poverty and hunger, conserving natural resources, mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, achieving healthy food systems and building resilience to crises and natural disasters.

He further stressed on the importance of agriculture and food systems adapting and becoming more productive and sustainable. Sustaining food cultivation means adopting practices that lead to greater production with lower inputs in the same land area and rational use of natural resources. This is as well as reducing food loss before reaching the final product or retail phase through a number of initiatives, including better mechanisms for harvesting, storage, packaging and transport. He further indicated that agriculture can play a transformative role in addressing the effects of climate change.

He said that everyone (governments, the private sector and civil society institutions) should work to adopt diverse food systems to provide considerable amounts of food to ensure that it is provided to the growing population. We as individuals, he added, must play our part in creating sustainable food systems.