World Food Day for me
Like every year, there is one event that I wait impatiently: The World Food Day. The reason for this is because for the past 3 years, I have been involved in organizing this event on the University campus through the Agricultural Society (whether it was for making a poster on my course, being involved in food sale or any other activity related to the event). Last year, students of the Faculty of Agriculture also got the opportunity to participate in the National World Food Day Celebration, whereby some students presented a play on the theme of last year (“United Against Hunger”), others show-cased the research carried out by the faculty on posters, created awareness on the issue of hunger by making a video and poster on hunger and what we can do to fight it, displaying rare crops and vegetables which can be used in times of crisis. These are just a few examples just to give an idea about what kind of things that we do during the World Food Day.
We learn by doing things
From my own experience, I can say that the world is evolving very fast and students who are in agriculture must move together or ahead of it. We are having good training at the University, but to be able to cope with the speed at which agriculture is changing (with the use of ICTs in agriculture, new tools and ways of doing things etc.), we need to get SKILLS! Knowledge alone is not enough anymore! We need to know how to act and make things work. To start, these kind of small activities are the perfect opportunity for agriculture students to discover and develop their potential. I still remember when I was in my first year at University, I was scared to go forward and do something. I had the feeling that I am not able to do these things and they were simply not made for me. But the positive point is that at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Mauritius, all students are encouraged to be involved in the extra-curricular activities as the Dean of Faculty and Lecturers are always there to support us. Today, I can say that for me to be passionate about agriculture, these activities have played a major role. Everyone is talking about making agriculture attractive to youth, so that they come forward and see it as a career. For me, this is a way of doing it; By being involved in the World Food Day and other events related to agriculture, I have developed a passion for the subject and it is very difficult for me to even think of going into another field of study since I am certain that I belong in agriculture.
This year’s World Food Day celebration in Mauritius
The theme for this year’s World Food day Celebration is “Food Prices – From Crisis to Stability” and in Mauritius, the event is going to be celebrated from 14th to 16th October 2011 at the SSR Botanic Garden at Pamplemousses. The Faculty of Agriculture will be present there and more details will be shared in the following posts. Till then, watch & enjoy the World Food day 2011 video below and think about establishing a kitchen garden at home or plant a fruit tree on this occasion!
