The UN General Assembly have declared 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV). FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN) is the lead agency in celebrating this vital year. Hence, it is an unique opportunity to raise awareness on the key role of fruits and vegetables in food security, human health and nutrition. Find out more in our blog about the purpose of this initiative, and how VIRTIGATION contributes to it.
4 objectives of the IYFV 2021
The IYFV 2021 has four main objectives:
- Raise awareness of and direct policy attention to the nutrition and health benefits of fruits and vegetables consumption.
- Promote diversified, balanced, and healthy diets and lifestyles through fruit and vegetable consumption.
- Reduce losses and waste in fruits and vegetables food systems.
- Share best practices on promotion and consumption, improved sustainability, supply chains and capacity strengthening.
As dietary essentials, fruits and vegetables contribute significantly to ensuring food security and preventing malnutrition. The common saying to eat five fruits and vegetables a day underlines this positive role further. The IYFV 2021 also aims to serve as a launchpad to strengthen the small-scale farmers in sustainable farming and production.
Key messages
The main messages of the UN’s IYFV 2021 stress the importance of a food systems approach in the various aspects of the fruits and vegetables value chain:
- Innovate, cultivate, reduce food loss and waste – Innovation, improved technologies and infrastructure are critical to increase the efficiency and productivity within fruits and vegetables supply chains to reduce loss and waste.
- Foster sustainability – Sustainable and inclusive value chains can help increase production, help to enhance the availability, safety, affordability and equitable access to fruits and vegetables to foster economic, social and environmental sustainability.
- Growing prosperity – Cultivating fruits and vegetables can contribute to a better quality of life for family farmers and their communities. It generates income, creates livelihoods, improves food security and nutrition and enhances resilience through sustainably managed local resources and increased agrobiodiversity.
- Harness the goodness – Fruits and vegetables have multiple health benefits, including strengthening the immune system, that are essential for combating malnutrition in all its forms and overall prevention of non-communicable diseases.
- Live by it, a diverse diet – Fruits and vegetables should be consumed in adequate amounts daily as part of a diversified and healthy diet.
- Respect food from farm to table – The high perishability of fruits and vegetables needs special attention to maintain their quality and safety through appropriate treatment and handling across the supply chain from production to consumption in order to minimize loss and waste.
How VIRTIGATION contributes to the IYFV 2021
As a Horizon 2020 project tasked with ensuring food security and tackling emerging threats to plant health, the VIRTIGATION project is contributing in several ways to the UN’s commendable initiative. Firstly, VIRTIGATION’s innovative biobased solutions aim to protect two of the world’s most important fruits and vegetables, tomatoes and cucurbits, from emerging viral diseases. Secondly, the project’s multi-actor approach (VIRTIGATION network) seeks to train the entire value chain, especially growers, in applying its developed solutions in fields and greenhouses across the globe. Thirdly, VIRTIGATION’s comprehensive climate change research focus aspires to increase the resilience of tomatoes and cucurbits in light of future climatic conditions.
The IYFV2021 encourages all actors of the fruits and vegetables value chain to actively take part in the celebrations of this initiative. Check out the FAO resources on their website to see how you can contribute to ensure that 2021 is the #FruitsVegYear!