On October 16, World Hunger Day, we mobilize to Defend Our Food Systems and demand an end to imperialist aggression that perpetuates global hunger.

Global hunger remains a crisis: one in four people worldwide live in hunger — especially in rural areas where small food producers are based — with acute famine in Gaza and Sudan. While the FAO reports modest improvements year-over-year, these “gains” mask deeper threats — the intensifying Super El Niño that is already straining agriculture globally, imperialist-backed wars and occupations that are driving extreme hunger in affected countries and artificially inflating food prices beyond reach for the rest of the world, and a climate crisis that is being weaponized as a corporate profit tool rather than addressed as a systemic emergency.

The root causes are interconnected: neoliberal policies dismantle local food production, wars of aggression destabilize agricultural regions, and false climate solutions prioritize corporate profit over genuine sustainability. Today’s food systems face greater strain than ever, pushing millions toward hunger.

In defense of our food systems, we must reclaim them from those who exploit them and demand radical food systems transformation: land back to communities, genuine climate action over corporate greenwashing, and people’s food sovereignty as the foundation of our future. Fight for just, equitable, healthy, and sustainable food systems!

📣 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍!

We call on our members and networks to organize protest actions and activities on or before October 16 (including for the International Rural Women’s Day on October 15) that center local struggles for people’s food sovereignty. Coordinate with the PCFS Global secretariat to amplify these actions.

Make noise online and in the streets. Release statements, share photos and videos of your local actions, create and distribute posters that echo our call to Defend Our Food Systems. Tag @PCFSGlobal and use #DefendOurFoodSystems to connect your struggle to the global movement.

Share your localized plans with PCFS so we can amplify every voice in defense of our food systems and to uphold people’s food sovereignty! ✊🌍