Officials from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Rwanda on Wednesday, October 25, marked the World Food Day (WFD) by visiting St. Andre Secondary School in Kigali where they educated the students on the importance of water as “life” and “food.” ALSO READ: FAO boss on Rwanda’s journey to achieving food security The WFD is an international day marked every year worldwide on October 16 to commemorate the date of the founding of the FAO in 1945. Among its aims, the WFD raises awareness for people who suffer from hunger and highlights the need to do more to combat the problem. It is also an opportunity to call for the furtherance of food security all over the globe, especially in times of crisis, raise awareness of the crucial need for successful agriculture policies to be implemented by governments across the world, and so on. This year’s WFD was celebrated under the theme “Water is life, water is food. Leave no one behind.” The event at St. Andre Secondary School was attended by students, FAO officials, and a local governments' representative. ALSO READ: FAO donates 100 water tanks to families on International Day of Rural Women Speaking to the students, Dr Eugene Rurangwa, an agricultural researcher and scientist, talked about the importance of water and the need to preserve it. Water makes up over 50 percent of our bodies. It covers about 71 percent of the Earth's surface. Only 2.5 percent of water is fresh, suitable for drinking, agriculture, and most industrial uses. Agriculture accounts for 72 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, read part of the presentation he gave. By 2050, Food production must increase significantly by at least 60 percent to meet the demand of the world's growing population. 60 percent of the extra food requirement in the future should come from irrigated agriculture, he added. Students got an opportunity to ask questions to the FAO officials. They posed questions including how they can play a role in preserving water and so on. Rurangwa asked them to make it a point to tell people about the importance of water. Speak up and tell them that 'water is life and water is food, don't misuse it,' he said. FAO officials also asked some questions to the students and rewarded those who gave correct answers. According to a statement from FAO, the world’s rapid population growth, urbanization, economic development, and climate change are putting the planet’s water resources under increasing stress. At the same time, freshwater resources per person have declined by 20 percent in the past decades and water availability and quality are deteriorating fast due to decades of poor use and management, over extraction of groundwater, pollution and climate change. ALSO READ: FAO project helps improve Rwanda’s soil testing, productivity “We risk stretching this precious resource to a point of no return,” the statement reads. “Today, 2.4 billion people live in water-stressed countries. Many are smallholder farmers who already struggle to meet their daily needs, particularly women, Indigenous Peoples, migrants, and refugees. Competition for this priceless resource is increasing as water scarcity becomes an ever-increasing cause of conflict,” it goes on. Besides this, around 600 million people who depend, at least partially, on aquatic food systems for a living are suffering the effects of pollution, ecosystem degradation, and unsustainable practices.
