Wastage Of Food: Agony Of Hunger

Wastage of food… Agony of hunger

To save a grain is equivalent to produce a grain. But the stark reality is that about 36 percent of total food grains produced world over is being wasted. Thus the severity of the situation can be gauged. On the one hand, there are nations which are dying with hunger due to dearth of food, but on the other, we are wasting the food grains worth hundreds of crores of rupees. We are unable to prevent this wastage even though the technology is taking the world well ahead. World agriculture exhibition and seminar, which was conducted in Tel Aviv, Israel, mainly concentrated on the wastage of food grains. Seminar suggested that the availability of food for world people could be increased only when wastage of food

Even developed nations are no exception for food wastage. In the US, 3.1 crore tones of food is being wasted every year. In Europe and North America, per capita food grains wastage stands at 95 to 115 kgs, whereas in Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asian countries, it stands at as low as 6 to 11 kgs. In poorer countries, loss is high at production stage, whereas in rich countries, wastage is high it consumption level. The wastage is high in fruits and vegetables which is nearly 50 percent. With the decrease in the size of total farmland and in the number of farmers worldwide, and with the advance of industrial and service sectors at unimaginable pace, food production is not increasing at expected level. Moreover, the increased usage of food products for industrial requirements and bio fuels is also a reason for food scarcity. Apart from this, food production is badly hit by the drastic changes taking place in the climate. It’s a matter of grave concern that all these developments are resulting in hunger. As technology expands, in the backdrop of decrease in the availability of farmland, things seem little better only because the yields are high in the land that is available. Despite of ongoing hectic research to increase food production and to protect food from being wasted, the poor nations are not benefiting out of it. During the past 30 years, the focus of the

This is equal to annual food grains requirement for both Bihar and Haryana states. If we develop better storage facilities in our country, we can feed 12.5 lakh people every year free of cost by stopping food wastage. In 2011, even Supreme Court of India ordered to distribute freely 50 lack tones of food grains to the poor. The Supreme Court also commented then that thousands of tons of food grains were being rotten in the country. Natural calamities, lack of storage facilities, absence of proper precautions, wastage at consumption level, unavailability of post-harvest technology, lack of proper infrastructure, lack of transport facilities, lack of proper packing, minimal cold-transport facilities, lack of knowledge in food products’ storage among farmers, businessmen and consumers, lack of facilities, and rampant corruption at every level are the reasons for wastage of food products in India. Though we can’t prevent natural calamities, we can reduce the losses to a minimum level. But we can prevent the losses occurring in other forms. For this, governments need sincerity. As governments are taking measures to achieve food security in India, today it’s necessary to focus on prevention of food losses. Achieving doubled yield from our limited land to meet future requirements is as important as adapting post-harvest technology so as to prevent