According to the United Nations resolution that established 4 March as the International Day of Fruits and Vegetables, as analysed by FEPEX, adequate consumption of fruits and vegetables is a fundamental pillar of healthy diets and helps prevent nutritional deficiencies and non‑communicable diseases. The resolution also highlights that consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables is essential to obtaining the health and nutritional benefits these foods provide.
It also explains that there is an urgent need to increase awareness of the importance of fruits and vegetables and to promote and facilitate measures that increase the availability, accessibility and consumption of these products, with a view to achieving the SDGs by 2030.
The resolution acknowledges that “the low global consumption of fruits and vegetables, at levels below the minimum recommended intake, contributes to more than five million deaths per year, according to estimates.”
It further states that promoting the fruit and vegetable sector can have a positive impact on income generation, especially for small farmers and family farmers, as well as for rural and urban consumers.
It underscores the fundamental role played by women in household food production, acquisition and preparation—particularly in feeding children—as well as in the production, sale and distribution of locally grown fruits and vegetables.
The proposal to declare 4 March as the International Day of Fruits and Vegetables was presented at the 29th session of the FAO Committee on Agriculture, held in Rome from 30 September to 4 October 2024. The proposal was approved at that time and later submitted to the United Nations General Assembly in 2025, where it received final approval.
With this recognition by the UN of the International Day of Fruits and Vegetables, the celebration becomes “official,” as until now there had been other types of observances, such as the World Fruit and Vegetable Day, held on 16 October.
For FEPEX, the official and definitive designation of an International Day of Fruits and Vegetables reaffirms the importance of consuming these products for health and for preventing disease, as recognised by the UN in its resolution. Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption—as advocated by public administrations, institutions, health organisations and international movements such as Five a Day—would also help reduce the growing healthcare costs associated with obesity.
