WINDHOEK, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- A severe drought has seen Namibia managing to produce only 25 percent of its staple cereal needs including wheat, maize, millet and pearl, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the celebration of the World Food Day in Outapi, a town in Northern Namibia, Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry Alpheus !Naruseb called for concerted efforts in creating self-sustenance in food production in his country and extinguishing hunger.
"Achieving zero hunger is not only about addressing hunger. It is for this reason that the theme for this year's World Food Day celebration puts emphasis on healthy diets and calls for action across all sectors of the economy to make healthy quality and nutritious food accessible and affordable to everyone. At the same time, it calls on everyone to start thinking about what we eat," he said.
He added that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "State of Food Security and Nutrition 2019 report" reveals that in recent decades, people around the globe have dramatically changed their diets and eating patterns as a result of globalization, urbanization and growth in their income growth.
!Naruseb said Namibia and many countries has moved from seasonal consumption of plant-based and fibre-rich dishes to energy-dense diets, which are high in refined starches, sugar, fats, salt, processed foods, meat and other animal- source products which have negative effects health .
"Namibia is now a place where hunger and obesity paradoxically often coexist," he said.
