India, Oct. 16 -- This year's World Food Day marks 80 years since the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, whose mandate from the outset has been to ensure humanity's freedom from want.

Today, around 8.2 percent of people worldwide face chronic undernourishment. That compares to roughly two-thirds of the population living in areas with inadequate food supply in 1946, as revealed by the first World Food Survey conducted by FAO in the first months of its existence. Moreover, in 2025, with a threefold increase in population, the world produces more than enough calories to feed everyone.

As we mark this day and reflect on challenges past, present and future, I am reminded of one conclusion from that...