World Food Day 2025: Feed the Ones Who Feed us
Food is more than fuel for the human body. It’s the heartbeat of our daily lives and the hidden driver of the future of work. This year’s World Food Day theme, “Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future,” carries a deeply personal message. It reinforces that the type and quality of food we eat daily contribute directly to our wellbeing. This shapes not just our health, but also our productivity and resilience.
It remains a paradox that the very people who feed the world often struggle to feed themselves. Smallholder farmers produce about 70-80% of the world’s food, yet many of them and their families face food insecurity. Long working hours, poverty, unpredictable incomes, and limited access to nutritious food weaken farming communities, increase their risks of malnutrition, and reduce productivity. When farmers are undernourished, the ripple effects reach everyone – from the markets that depend on their harvests, to the consumers who rely on their produce, and the entire food systems at large.
Working Hand in Hand for Farmers’ Wellbeing
The Workforce Nutrition Alliance is supporting organisations that work closely with smallholder farmers to make nutrition a core part of their community programmes. Through tools like the Smallholder Farmer Workforce Nutrition Scorecard, organisations can go beyond sourcing crops from farmers to improving their wellbeing.
This means:
1. Ensuring access to healthy foods
2. Providing practical nutrition education
3. Offering regular health checks
4. Creating environments that support working mothers to breastfeed
In many informal settings, these simple steps can make the difference between surviving and thriving. Because when farmers are well-nourished, they can work better, earn more, and invest in their families and communities.
As we reflect on the role of food in our lives this World Food Day, let’s also see it as an investment for the smallholder farmers and farming communities. By walking hand in hand with our farmers, we can nourish them, strengthen rural livelihoods, and build a healthier, more reliable, and more resilient supply chain – securing a better future for all.
The Workforce Nutrition Alliance remains open to collaborations across governments, organisations, and sectors to ensure that farmers’ nutrition and wellbeing are prioritised as part of agrifood systems transformation.
Watch this space for our Farmer Guidebooks in November!