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Facts that will change the way to tackle food waste in India

Facts that will change the way to tackle food waste in India

Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of the poor and hungry.,” – Pope Francis on food waste

In 1996, a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) showed that enough food was being produced to meet the needs of the entire world’s population, and yet here we are, 20 years later, and 194.6 million people in India alone go hungry every day. So, assuming that we are indeed producing more food than ever before, one question to ask is: why can’t we provide food for everyone today?

While we are definitely producing more food per person than we were twenty years ago, one must understand that there are other factors that come into play, eventually resulting in food shortages for a sizeable population. These include the unequal distribution of resources such as land and water, poverty, food waste, etc. In fact, food waste is one of the most serious problems worldwide today.

hard numbers

According to the facts exposed by the FAO, a third of the food produced in the world is wasted; 1,300 million tons of food are wasted each year, which translates into losses of more than 750,000 million US dollars. India is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to food waste, with up to 40% of food produced in the country going to waste, leading to losses of more than $8.3 billion. In a country plagued by food insecurity, where more than 190 million people go hungry every day, such food waste is a real tragedy.

How is food waste produced?

The green revolution may have worked well to solve India’s food scarcity problems to a large extent, but at the same time, it has raised a new problem: the problem of abundance. That certain sectors of society have not been able to benefit from this is another tragedy. Courtesy of this abundance issue, food waste in India can effectively be traced to issues like inadequate supply chain management and lack of storage facilities. Approximately 40% of fruits and vegetables and 20% of cereals do not reach consumers due to these problems. Additionally, tons of prepared food is wasted in hotels, during weddings and other social gatherings, and even in homes.

Do you remember how much food you left on your plate the last time you went to a restaurant? It may have seemed harmless to leave behind a ‘small’ meal after you’re full, but imagine the magnified impact of your habit over the years.

It is important to understand that food waste also translates into problems for allied sectors. In India, for example, wasting rice also results in wasting water used to grow rice and electricity used to bring water to the field. Furthermore, it even results in the waste of manpower.

How to reduce waste?

The need of the hour is to formulate laws to prevent food waste. The French parliament, for example, recently passed a bill that prohibits supermarkets from throwing away unused food. Instead, they will now have to come to an agreement with interested organizations to redistribute this unused food.

While it is the government’s responsibility to make such laws, there are many things we can do individually to reduce food waste. If we all plan our meals well, only buy what we need, especially perishables, don’t over-prepare food that then has to be thrown away, start with small portions, and get used to ending food on our plate, it will definitely help address the problem of the food crisis in India.

India may have climbed as high as 55th in the 2015 Global Hunger Index (GHI), but we still have a long way to go. If we want to achieve Zero Hunger as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or successfully implement a food safety program, problems like food waste will need to be addressed as soon as possible.

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