World Food Day - A stark reminder of a starving population

What do you see on World Food Day? I see people having lavish meals in high-end restaurants and luxurious big houses. I also see people starving in refugee camps and in famine-stricken countries and regions.

I see people squandering large amounts of food only because they don't like the taste. I also see people begging in the street for anything that can be called food. I see white-collar workers on Wall Street making millions of dollars simply by clicking a button on the computer. I also see farmers toiling and sweating in the fields, barely being able to feed themselves and their families.

I see a world full of luxury, enjoyment and hope. I also see another world full of poverty, starvation and despair. And yet, we all live in one world.

As we observe World Food Day on October 16 each year, how many people think about those who get up every morning worrying about what to fill their starving stomach? How many governments have in mind those who go to bed every night hungry? I have to ask, have we done anything or have we done enough in alleviating the hunger problem? Why on earth are we observing World Food Day?

As the Chinese saying goes, food is god for the people, or food is the first necessity of the people. I have to say that without three meals, we can't work, create and live. It was the farmers who created the agricultural civilizations and laid the foundation for the entire human race.

A farmer is planting rice on a field. World starvation as farmers struggle to feed 9.6 billion people by 2050.

I should say that farmers should be given an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of modern civilization. But, in fact, most poor people are farmers. Farmers should be given more incentives and rewards to produce more grain. The Chinese scientist Yuan Longping has been devoting his whole life to researching hybrid rice and has boosted per capita yield to an incredible level. He has made great contributions to food security in China and possibly the world.

Now, the media. There is a significant role for the media to play. When the big famine happened in Africa earlier this year, the international media didn't report it much. CGTN, the young international broadcaster from China, did an extensive and prolonged coverage of the famine calling on the international community to help those suffering from the famine. Did the international media dedicate enough to its obligations and responsibilities when millions of people were starving and dying? If they turned a cold shoulder to the starving as if nothing happened, what do we expect from the international community?

Malawians queue for food aid distributed by the United Nations World Food Progamme (WFP) in Mzumazi village near the capital Lilongwe, on February 3, 2016.

What about the rich? They have amassed huge amounts of wealth that he can only consume a fraction of it in his or her whole life. If they can spare a small portion of that wealth, they could feed a large number of people and save many lives.

Lu Yonggen, a Hong Kong-born Chinese scientist donated all of his patrimony worth 8.8 million yuan (1.3million USD) to the school where he taught to set up an education fund to support poor students. In fact, the millionaire academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has lived an extremely simple life and decided to donate everything to society instead of leaving it to his daughter when he died recently.

That's the way the rich can win respect. I have to say money itself does not automatically win respect. On the contrary, if the rich only make and spend money for themselves, they will be looked down upon by people.

Last but not least, the average people. I have seen too many individuals who waste a lot of food in their daily lives. For example, they simply order too many dishes in restaurants and waste a lot of them. I also see a lot of people who take more food than they can eat at buffets or self-serving dinners.

Some are wasting food simply because they want to show that they are picky about food and that they have high taste about food so people around them can respect them. In fact, I have to say that by doing so, they cannot win respect but disgust from others.

Being thrifty and conscious about the environment are the basic qualities of modern and civilized human being. I would hope every year, World Food Day functions as a constant reminder that the starving population shouldn't and won't be neglected.

(CGTN)