Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- World Food Day is celebrated annually on October 16. It marks the anniversary of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 78 years ago, and is a day dedicated to raise awareness about issues of food security and hunger. The day is observed in more than 150 countries worldwide and is one of the most celebrated days of the UN calendar. This is the day when we consider what can be done to end hunger and malnutrition around the world. World Food Day 2023 has as its theme 'Water is Life, Water is Food. Leave No One Behind.’ The day is a call to consider water’s critical role in underpinning our food security and how we can better manage this finite and precious resource. 

On World Food Day 2023, FAO in Uzbekistan organized a photo contest among university students to focus young people’s attention on the importance of rational and sustainable use of water resources to ensure food security and progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. On 16 October 16, the photo contest closed with a solemn ceremony at the Tashkent State Agrarian University.

According to the terms of the contest, entrant photos had to reflect the role of water in agriculture, emphasize the importance of sustainable water management, combating water pollution, or other important aspects of sustainable water use. Most of the participants were students studying agriculture and water management, irrigation, agricultural technologies, veterinary medicine, crop production and environmental protection. The jury of the competition included authoritative experts in agriculture and water management, FAO specialists, and famous photographers.

The winners of the first three places were awarded valuable prizes - a laptop, tablet and smartphone. In addition, the rest of the participants received incentive prizes. 

“I express the hope that one day our youth, our students will make a worthy contribution to sustainable development and modernization of agriculture and increase the capabilities of the country’s water sector to meet the ever-growing needs of the economy and population with the necessary volumes of water resources,” said Aziz Nurbekov, coordinator of the FAO project “Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration Impact Program in Uzbekistan.”

As was noted at the award ceremony, rapid population growth, urbanization, economic development, and climate change are putting the planet’s water resources under increasing stress. At the same time, freshwater resources per person have declined 20 percent in the past decades and water availability and quality are deteriorating fast due to decades of poor use and mismanagement, over extraction of groundwater, pollution and climate change. 

The takeaway message is that we need to stop taking water for granted and start improving the way we use it in our daily lives. We can make a difference by changing the way we use, consume and manage water in our daily lives.