International Year of Fruits and Vegetables

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) operating under United Nations has declared 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables. This is to increase awareness about the role of fruits and vegetables in food security, human nutrition and health.

Importance

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the FAO recommend that every adult should consume at least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables per day. This will help prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, obesity and heart diseases. It will also help to fight against micro nutrient deficiencies.

Purpose of International Year of Fruits and Vegetables

The purpose of the year is as follows:

• It aims to increase the awareness of health benefits of fruits and vegetables
• It advocates for healthy diet through increased consumption of vegetables and fruits
• It promotes international efforts to boost the production of fruits and vegetables
• It helps to boost the efforts to improve value chains in sustainable way
• It invites stakeholders to increase the capacity of developing countries and adopt innovative technologies

About the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables

It falls under the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-25). Also, it falls under the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019-28). They further reinforce to provide greater visibility to the small-scale producers. The theme of the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables is as follows:
Awareness about the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables for balanced and healthy diet and lifestyle

Global Action Plan

The International Year of Fruits and Vegetables will function under a Global Action Plan. It was created by FAO. The activities included under the plan are as follows:

• Advocacy and awareness raising
• Knowledge Creation
• Policy making
• Capacity development
• Education

Focuses on Food Wastage

The International Year of Fruits and Vegetables mainly focuses on food wastage. According to FAO, around 50% of fruits and vegetables production are wasted in developing countries. FAO says that the post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables are high in Sub-Saharan Africa and East and South east Asia. The losses are high in East and south east Asia during storage. In sub-Saharan Africa, the losses occur on the farm. The loss and wastage are minimal in South Asia (India is located in the South Asian region). However, in south Asia the losses during transport are the highest.