Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition of the University of Tetova, on the occasion of the World Food Day, organized a round table, in which local and international experts, as well as businessmen in the field discussed the quality of food and its lack in local, regional and world terms.
At the opening of the works of this table, on behalf of the University of Tetova, the head of the Office for Scientific Research and Innovation, Prof. Dr. Agon Memeti. Referring to this event, he said that, for the seventh time, our University marks World Food Day, but unlike previous years, where the topics were varied, where food safety was discussed with special emphasis, this year, unfortunately we will also have to talk about the lack of food. “The fact that this problem is discussed in the premises of the University of Tetova, proves that, as an institution, we have the human resources to be involved in this new challenge and all together to reveal ideas, thoughts, why not to offer our scientific expertise. We have witnessed this in other moments, such as the global Covid-19 pandemic, which we approached with maximum seriousness and I believe we have done our duty, by mobilizing our professional resources of the Faculty of Medical Sciences”, said the Prof. Dr. Agon Memeti.
Dean of the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition of the University of Tetova, Prof. Dr. Xhezahir Idrizi said that with the marking the October 16, today we commemorate the World Food Day, which began to manifest with the establishment of the World Food Organization, called FAO, in 1945 and since 1981 it has been commemorated every year as a day related to nutrition problems in the world. “Each year has had a special motto, and this year’s motto is: “No one should be left behind”. If we look at the statistical data, recently, or the last 3 years, this number that has serious problems with nutrition and has become a serious problem, because if in 2019 we had one seventh of the world population that had a problem with nutrition, today this number has reached somewhere around 3 billion, as a result of the pandemic, also, as a result of the drought, and recently, a very serious problem is the war between Ukraine and Russia. We think that this panel will at least bring conclusions or ease the reduction of the nutrition crisis in our country, even though this is a very serious problem in our country. I say a serious problem, that somewhere close to 500 thousand people have serious problems with nutrition in a day. I want to end my speech with a quote from the Quran, which says: “whoever saves a life it is as though he had saved the lives of all mankind”, said Prof. Dr. Xhezahir Idrizi.
The state secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, Rexhail Ismaili, his speech was focused on the food situation in the country, perspectives and support to producers. According to him, in recent years the lack of staff is also worrying, and as an additional measure around this phenomenon for students of the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition and those of the Faculty of Agriculture and Biotechnology, from the academic year 2022-2023 this ministry offers scholarships for every student, who has an average grade above 8.5, which will have the value of the minimum salary, as receive the students of the Faculties of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Then, at this table dedicated to World Food Day, about the current problems of the food sector, also discussed and gave their evaluations the nutritionist, Vlatko Tanevski, university professor, Prof. Dr. Elmi Jusufi, the director of the Company “Dauti Komerc”, Xhemail Dauti, the director of the Bank for Development, Qenan Idrizi, the director of the “Sharr Mountain” National Park, Ibrahim Dehari, as well as the Vice-Dean for Science of the Faculty of Food Technology and Nutrition, Prof. Dr. Erhan Sulejmani.
