WORLD Food Day 2025 is calling for global collabora­tion in creating a peaceful, sustainable, prosperous, and food-secure future. By working together, across governments, organizations, sectors, and communities, we can transform agrifood systems to ensure that everyone has access to a healthy diet, living in harmony with the planet.

In some places, the severity of food insecurity is overwhelming. An estimated 673 million people are living with hunger. Elsewhere, rising levels of obesity and widespread food waste point to a system out of balance – where abundance and absence coexist, often side by side. Agrifood systems are also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet they offer real potential to reduce those emissions through the way food is grown, harvested, and shared.

The aforementioned levels of hunger highlight the tragic prev­alence of starvation in some countries. Meanwhile, wealth­ier nations need to ensure proper management of food to prevent waste. Depending on climatic conditions, all countries should emphasize crop cultivation to enable mutual support and help ad­dress food security challeng­es. The theme of this year’s World Food Day 2025, "Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future," aims to pro­mote a peaceful, sustainable, and food-secure future, ensur­ing access to nutritious and healthy food for all.

Currently, Myanmar is striving to ensure food securi­ty across the entire nation, as some regions and states face challenges, particularly due to low paddy production. Accord­ingly, during his inspection tours, the Head of State gave guidance to local authorities to focus on using high-quality crop varieties, increasing per-acre yields, minimizing losses and waste during production, and ensuring the systemat­ic application of agricultural practices and inputs.

Some regions of Myanmar can produce surplus crops and supply them to other states and regions that face food security challenges. While rice is gener­ally the staple food of Myanmar, some ethnic groups do not rely on rice due to their traditions, climatic conditions, and geographical factors. Therefore, people in these areas need to cultivate crops suited to local conditions to help ensure an adequate food supply for their communities.

Generally, Myanmar has a surplus in food production due to the cultivation of diverse crop varieties. This surplus can be exported to generate foreign exchange for the nation and shared with countries in need as part of humanitarian efforts. Only by sharing surplus food with those in need can the world become more peaceful and prosperous.