Need to Tackle Food Wastage

Food wastage is a much more than a serious global problem.

- Swarnendu Biswas

It is a slap on humanity; a colossal human tragedy. According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations), roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year — approximately 1.3 billion tonnes — gets lost or wasted. According to the same organisation, “Food losses and waste amounts to roughly 680 billion USD in industrialised countries and 310 billion USD in developing countries.” At the same time over a billion people in the world struggle with hunger. If this is not a colossal tragedy of our times, what is?

A Callous Attitude

Food wastage is a rampant practice in India, as is hunger and malnutrition a rampant occurrence in the country. The Agriculture Ministry noted some five years ago that Rs.50,000 crore worth of agricultural produce was wasted in India every year. I strongly suspect things have not improved much since then.

The huge food wastage in the country i s not only due to inadequate cold storage facilities and poor transportation infrastructure. It is also a product of our lackadaisical attitude towards food wastage.

We waste food on our dinner tables, in our family functions, in wedding banquets, in hotels and restaurants… it seems food wastage is almost a favourite pastime of affluent and middle class India. While doing so, we conveniently forget that many millions of Indians have to bear the pangs of hunger, as we cheerfully waste food! It is a disturbing reality that hunger is widespread in India; a country which is the largest producer of milk and the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. India consistently ranks poorly in the Global Hunger Index.

Environmental Impact