Food wastage is a social delinquency

Sir,
India is at first rank in milk production and second in fruits and vegetables after China in the world. But India is the world’s biggest waster of food and a high proportion of the food that India produces never reaches to the consumers. According to the sources, India loses around 58,000 crores due to food wastage annually. India is already struggling to feed its increasing population and if wastage of food is not prevented then its current food crisis can worsen significantly in the coming years. One-third of the world’s malnourished children live in India. 47 percent of children in India are underweight and 46% of those under three years old are too small for their age.  Almost half of all childhood deaths are attributed to malnutrition. Food is wasted from the point of production to the final consumption. The food wastage represents wastage of various resources used in production such as soil, water, seed, fertilizers, labour etc. Food wastage has various socio-economic and environmental impacts. Food is very scarce for the many poor people but luxury for many rich people. A good amount of wasted food can be fed to many hungry people. India ranked 97th among 118 countries in the Global Hunger Index in 2016.Our neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and China area all ranked above to India. It is estimated that around 20 crores of people go to bed without food and around 7000 people die every day because of hunger. Food wastage is not less than a social delinquency. It is estimated that every year around 21 million tonnes of wheat is wasted in India and only 10 per cent of food is kept in cold storage in India. There is poor supply food chain management in cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables etc. resulting in the huge amount of wastage. With the wastage of food various inputs and natural resources are also wasted. For example, 25 per cent of water is wasted even as millions of people still don’t have access to drinking water and 300 million barrels of oil is also wasted to produce the wasted food. Moreover, manpower and electricity is also wasted. Food wastage also causes land degradation by 45 per cent due to deforestation, unsustainable farming practices; excessive ground water extraction etc. Food wastage is the national economic loss. Food decay also causes emission of harmful gases. For instance, decaying of paddy causes methane production. Food wastage has a major impact on the climate change.
Food wastage should be avoided in order to provide the food to the poor people. A proper strategy should be framed at the national level so that the surplus of food can become an advantage for the poor people. Items should be purchased according to their shelf life. Vegetables should be cooked on priority basis because they are perishable in nature. Canned and bottled food should be consumed before the expiry dates. Spoiled food can be used for the compost making. Vigilance should be kept on canteens, hotels, NGOs etc. who deal with the food. If 40 per cent of food is left to rot then India will be unable to provide enough food to the increasing population.Hunger and food wastage are the two sides of the same coin. The cycle of food cannot be broken without channelizing the wastage of food. By preventing the wastage of food we can do justice with the hungry people, our economy and planet Earth.
Yours etc….
Dr.Banarsi Lal,
KVK, Reasi,
SKUAST-Jammu

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