50kg food wasted per person per yr in Indian homes: UNEP

50kg food wasted per person per yr in Indian homes: UNEP

Most Of Waste Comes From Households

Vishwa.Mohan@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: 05.03.2021 

An estimated 931 million tonnes of food, or 17% of total food available to consumers in 2019 globally, went into the waste bins of households, retailers, restaurants and other food services, said the Food Waste Index Report 2021, released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Thursday.

The weight of the global food waste roughly equals India’s total production of foodgrain, oilseeds, sugarcane and horticultural produce in 2019-20.

The report shows that most of this waste globally comes from households, followed by food services and retail outlets. On a global per capita level, 121 kg of food is wasted each year, with 74 kg of this happening in households.

In South Asia, estimates at household level show a waste of 50 kg of food per person per year in India compared to 82 kg in Afghanistan, 79 kg in Nepal, 76 kg in Sri Lanka, 74 kg in Pakistan and 65 kg in Bangladesh.

Per capita food wastage is, in fact, much higher in west Asian and sub-Saharan African countries compared to South Asian and most of the European and North American countries, challenging earlier narratives of higher consumer food waste in developed countries, and food production, storage and transportation losses in developing countries.

Referring to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) which estimates that 690 million people were hungry in 2019, the food waste index report said the number was expected to rise sharply during and post-Covid-19.

“With a staggering 3 billion people that cannot afford a healthy diet (FAO, 2020), the message of this report is clear: Citizens need help to reduce food waste at home,” said the report comprising new global consumer level food waste estimates that were generated from existing data points in 54 countries and extrapolations based upon the estimates observed in other nations.

Underlining that food waste is not just limited to rich nations, the report noted that the household per capita food waste generation is found to be broadly similar across country income groups, suggesting that action on food waste is equally relevant in high, upper-middle and lower-middle income countries.

The report, joint research work of UNEP and UK-based non-governmental organisation WRAP, also flags that 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are associated with food that is not consumed.

“Reducing food waste would cut GHG emissions, slow destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution, enhance availability of food and thus reduce hunger and save money at a time of global recession,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP.

Full report on www.toi.in

Times View: Many people die of hunger every year across the globe and yet 931 million tonnes of food was wasted the world over in 2019. In India too, where millions survive at subsistence level, tonnes of food is wasted.

Experts must suggest ways to get out of this grim paradox or at least minimise it. We also need awareness campaigns on the subject, both by the government and by civil society groups.