On World Nutrition Day 2026, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the FAO, highlighted that food security depends not just on production but on availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality of nutritious food. Speaking at the high-level event “Delivering as One for Coherent Nutrition Action” during Rome Nutrition Week 2026, he stressed the need to move beyond basic staples and ensure diets include nutritious, healthy, and functional foods, such as biofortified crops and fermented products, that offer proven health benefits.
Addressing accessibility, Qu underscored the importance of targeted interventions for vulnerable groups, including school feeding programmes and support for smallholder farmers. On affordability, he warned that healthy diets remain out of reach for 2.6 billion people, calling for social protection, income support, and policies to lower food prices.
Qu emphasized that solving these challenges requires systemic collaboration among governments, institutions, and stakeholders. FAO is working to align policies with nutrition goals, strengthen food environment monitoring, and promote innovations like biofortification.
Read the full original article “Availability, accessibility and affordability of quality food are vital for food security, says FAO” at Food and Agriculture Organization.
