Food Wastage in India
What is food Wastage??
Anything you grow or prepare with intension of consumption but it ends up in drains without its sole purpose of satisfying ones appetite is considered as food wastage. In India itself so much food is wasted if we tally overall it will match food consumption of United Kingdom.
Food wastage in India is increasing at alarming rate and
Major reason for this is consumption of food during celebrations. India is land of diverse culture and each culture has its own customs and traditional which are celebrated throughout the year. Imagine how much food is prepared for let’s take a count of 100 people and now imagine what the chances of all 100 people attending it are, I am sure at least there might me 20 odd ones who won’t attend the function. Now I am talking about just one family here. Don’t get confused with numbers visualize the volumes in which food is wasted.
Events and outlets like Weddings, canteens, hotels, social and family functions, households each one has their share of food wastage. According to the United Nations Development Program, up to 40% of the food produced in India is wasted. About 21 million tonnes of wheat are wasted in India and 50% of all food across the world meets the same fate and never reaches the needy. In fact, according to the agriculture ministry, Rs. 50,000 crore worth of food produced is wasted every year in the country.
People who are actively involved in World Environment day are promoting Slogan ‘Think Eat Save’. India ranks 63 among 88 countries in Global Hunger Index. Wastage of food is not indicative of only hunger or pollution, but also many economic problems in the economy, such as inflation. Only government policies are not responsible for the problems we are facing today, but our culture and traditions are also playing a lead role in this drama. In India, the bigger the wedding, the larger the party and the more colossal is the waste.
Why is food wastage a problem?
25% of fresh water used to produce food is ultimately wasted, even as millions of people still don’t have access to drinking water. When you calculate the figures in cubic kilometers, this is a bit more than an average river.
Even though the world produces enough food to feed twice the world’s present population, food wastage is ironically behind the billions of people who are malnourished. The number of hungry people in India has increased by 65 million more than the population of France. According to a survey by Bhook (an organization working towards reducing hunger) in 2013, 20 crore Indians sleep hungry on any given night. About 7 million children died in 2012 because of hunger/malnutrition.
Acres of land are deforested to grow food. Approximately 45% of India’s land is degraded primarily due to deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, and excessive groundwater extraction to meet the food demand.
300 million barrels of oil are used to produce food that is ultimately wasted.
Food wastage cripples a country’s economy to an extent that most of us are unaware. If food is wasted, there is so much waste of water used in agriculture, manpower and electricity lost in food processing industries and even contributes to deforestation. Taking all of into consideration, the actual worth of money per year in India from food wastage is estimated at a whopping Rs. 58,000 crore.
Some measures that the government needs to take include containing wastage in transportation, improve storage facilities (the cold storage chain is 50% less than required and that too needs to be brought up to world standards), food processing also needs to be sped up so food is saved and wasted less to feed more.
While you may not be able to reduce food lost during production, you can certainly reduce food at your personal level of food waste.
Here’s what one can do on a more personal level to contain the food wastage:
Plan out your meal and make your shopping list to determine what you actually need for the week. About 20% of what we buy in urban India ends up being thrown away. You could in the week after cut down on the surplus and soon in two or three weeks you will have a precise list of your family’s weekly consumption. You have no idea how amazed you will be at how much you buy and what you actually consume. Needless to say that the difference is but naturally wasted.
Buy in quantities you can realistically use. Avoid impulse buys. It will more or less find the bin.
If you cook at home, make sure you cook keeping in mind there is no excess. You can always complete your meals with a few fruits rather than keep some extra food in the refrigerator. It’s a lot better and a healthier practice too.
Select according to their shelf life. Use the green vegetables first. Don’t throw out fruits and veggies with ‘aesthetic only’ blemishes. Use canned and bottled food before expiry dates.
Reuse the refrigerated left-overs (if any) for the very next meal.
Even if food gets spoilt then compost it.
If you work in an office that has a canteen, check with them on how they manage excess food. Cooked food, especially since it has a low shelf life needs to be managed better and faster. Check with NGOs who offer to transport excess food to the needy.
If you host a family get together either at home, a marriage hall or throw a party at a hotel, make sure you plan for the food to be transported to a place like an orphanage or an old age shelter.
Make finishing your plate a habit. Try to inculcate it further to as many possible.
NGO have come forward with concepts like “wall of good faith” where people can donate left over cloths and left over foods from their functions where a freeze is kept to store food.
With this article people need to get awareness towards food wastage as we don’t recognize its ill effect with open eyes. Adapt to this oath "I AM RESPONSIBLE "