India is growing more and more food but eating less

Food waste, food loss and poverty are all interconnected. This is increasingly becoming a menace in India.

But let’s first look at the global picture to gain a perspective.

●??????The rich countries of the world waste the same amount of food as Sub-Saharan African countries produce. (UNEP)

●??????This report also discovered that around 850 million people globally suffer from the effects of hunger.

●??????These 850 million people could easily get up to 1520 calories each from the food that is wasted by rich countries.

The above facts make it clear that food waste and poverty are densely related. Of course, both developed and underdeveloped countries waste food - but the reasons are a stark contrast. There is also a distinction between food wasted and food lost. Food waste in underdeveloped countries is primarily due to a lack of technology in agricultural production and distribution, right from harvesting to retail. So this is classified as food loss rather than waste according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO UN). On the other hand, in developed nations waste typically happens from over-buying and placing unnecessary importance on the appearance of food.

But what’s the situation in India?

About 19 crore Indians i.e. close to 15% of the total population fall under the undernourished category, as India wastes or lose food worth well over INR 90,000 crores.

In contrast, if you look at the combined weight of India’s total food production in the year 2019-20, it is almost equal to the weight of the total food wasted in the world. ?

It is imperative that despite being a rapidly growing economy, our food productions to distribution ratios are still substandard. Now here’s an ironic fact - India wastes as much food as the UK produces.

The more we look at the numbers, the more confusing this problem becomes. Let’s try to understand India’s situation.

• Our food production matches many individual rich countries.
• Our food distribution matches many poor countries.
• Our food waste matches both rich and poor countries.

In short – India’s food waste problem is a mix of how both developed and underdeveloped countries around the world waste food.

Who can solve this problem and how?

We need to fix our supply chains and we need to fix our consumption habits. All of us - the consumers, the companies and the government need to be proactive about this problem.

Government Initiatives - Some of the immediate steps the government of India has recently taken is to set up integrated cold chain projects to reduce food loss. It has pledged INR 3100 crore for this initiative. A post-harvest management programme was also launched to create a network of packaging houses and storage facilities around the country. Infrastructure projects like Mega Food Parks & Cold Chain Infra are launched under the Sampada scheme while schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojna or PMKSY are focused on optimal usage of resources at the production stage. FSSAI, India’s food authority has also launched the IFSA or Indian Food Sharing Alliance which is a social initiative that works with food collection agencies in creating awareness around food waste and hunger.

Private players - Technology plays a huge role in tackling our food problem. Every step of the supply chain needs to be armed with efficient technology that minimizes waste as much as possible. Entrepreneurs in India have already taken on the problem head-on with some startups innovating in practices like waste-to-compost, waste-to-energy and food-to-feed.

Individuals - In the food market, consumers are stakeholders. It is our consumption patterns and habits that ultimately control how the market treats food. Very simple things like planning one's grocery purchases to avoid overbuying or impulsive purchasing actually go a long way in reshaping the food economy.?Food donation projects run by small-time NGOs have shown a significant impact on directly addressing the poverty issue.

Food waste is above all a humanitarian crisis. Whether food is lost or wasted at any stage in the food chain - the ones to suffer are ultimately the ones who do not have easy access to food. Governments and private companies can always recover from the financial loss of food waste. But how does a developing nation recover from the loss of children going to sleep with empty stomachs??