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Food Crisis News: According to a new United Nations report, about 19 percent of the food produced in the world, or 1.05 billion metric tons, was wasted in 2022. The highest wastage of 60% was seen in households while about 28% of food was wasted in restaurants and food services. At the same time, currently 78.3 crore people in the world are facing hunger.
Recently, the Food Waste Index report of the United Nations Environment Program was released on Wednesday. In which the efforts of various countries to halve food wastage by 2030 are monitored. A report published in 2021 said that 17 percent of the food produced in the world in 2019, or 93.1 million metric tons, was wasted. However, it is not appropriate to directly compare the data from both reports as there is insufficient data from many countries.
The report was jointly prepared by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the international charity Waste and Resource Action Program (WRAP). The researchers divided each country's data into three categories, including waste by households, food services and retailers. According to the researchers' analysis, households wasted a maximum of 79 kilograms of food per person per year. Which is equivalent to one billion meals per day in the world. About 60 percent of food was wasted at home, about 28 percent at food service or restaurants, and about twelve percent at retailers. Whereas 78.3 crore people in the world are facing hunger.
Food waste is also a global problem because the process of food production impacts the environment and produces many greenhouse gases, including methane. Methane gas is responsible for 30 percent of global warming. Food waste and garbage account for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. If there were a country that wasted food, it would rank third behind the US and China in terms of gas emissions.
Studying efforts to prevent food waste in Nigeria and Kenya, researcher Fadila Jumar said the problem is worse for those who do not have access to healthy food. In the eyes of humanity, food wastage means less food for the poor. The report said that many governments and organizations are making efforts to prevent food wastage through public and private partnerships. Governments and municipalities, in collaboration with food supply chain businesses, oblige businesses to take measures to prevent food waste. Food redistribution is also done by food banks and charities. One such group in Kenya is food banking. They collect surplus food from farms, markets, supermarkets and packing houses and supply it to school-going children or the poor. Every year 44.5 lakh tonnes of grain is wasted in Kenya.