The theme for World Food Day
2015 is “Social Protection and Agriculture: breaking
the cycle of rural poverty”. This theme has been chosen in a
bid to draw global attention to the role that social protection plays in
eradicating hunger and poverty.
The
core idea behind World Food Day is action against hunger, bringing people
around the world together to declare their commitment to eradicate hunger in
our lifetime. It is observed on 16 October every year in almost every country
by millions of people. Yet it is ironical that In a country like India whose
economy is ranked as the third largest in the world in terms of purchasing
power parity also holds the unique distinction of housing the highest number of
protein deficient and undernourished people in the world, 194.6 million to be
more precise of which more than 65 million are stunted children.
An average Indian
consumes approximately 37 gms per day, which is nearly half the levels
recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO) of an average of 1 gm of Protein
per kilogram of body weight per day.
It is these very shocking
statistics that drove Poultry India to launch its ‘Eat Healthy, Eat Right’ Pan
India Protein Awareness campaign. The campaign is aimed at educating people on
the goodness of proteins -- from any source vegetarian or non vegetarian food --
and the important role proteins plays in supporting day-to-day health, fitness
and general well being.
An
article by India Food Banking Network shows up few facts about hunger in India.
·
India
is home to the largest undernourished and hungry population in the world.
·
15.2%
of our population is undernourished
·
194.6million
people go hungry everyday
·
30.7%
of children under 5 are underweight
·
58%
of children stunted by 2 years of age
·
1
in 4 children malnourished
·
3,000
children in India die every day from poor diet related illness
·
24%
of under-five deaths in India
·
30%
of neo-natal deaths in India
Further,
factors such as price rise and inflationary trends have led to the rapid rise
in essential staple food items. In the last few days prices of staple grains
and pulses have soared (Dal is retailing at an average of Rs 140 a kg) while a
couple of eggs for breakfast cost you around just Rs 9 approximately people.
Another key highlight of the campaign is the education of the various
sources of proteins in easily available daily foods. Below is a table of
protein contents for various foods:
|
Item
|
Weight in gms
|
Protein per 100gms
|
Commodity price
per 100gms (Rs approx.)
|
|
Egg
|
100
|
13.2
|
8
|
|
Chicken
|
100
|
30
|
20
|
|
Mutton
|
100
|
26
|
40
|
|
Milk ( FULL FAT)
|
100
|
3.2
|
5
|
|
Yogurt
|
100
|
5
|
13
|
|
Paneer (FULL FAT)
|
100
|
11
|
35
|
|
Fish
|
100
|
22
|
100
|
|
Tur Dal
|
100
|
22
|
14
|
Poultry
India is an organization which includes Indian Poultry Equipment Manufacturers'
Association (IPEMA), National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC); CLFMA of
India; Poultry Federation of India (PFI); All India Poultry Breeders
Association (AIPBA); Andhra Pradesh Poultry Farmers Association (APPFA);
Poultry Breeders Association (PBA-AP); West Bengal Poultry Farmers Association
(WBPFA); Tamil Nadu Broiler Co-ordination Committee (TMBCC); Broiler Breeders
Association - North (BBAN); Karnataka Poultry Farmers & Breeders
Association (KPFBA); Indian Federation of Animal Health Companies (INFAH),
Indian Poultry Journalist Association (IPJA) and All Odisha Poultry Association
(AOPA).