UN Report: 93 crore tonnes of food is wasted annually across the world, India’s share is 6.8 crore tonnes
New Delhi : According to a United Nations report, an estimated 93.10 crore tonnes of food was wasted throughout the world last year, which is 17 percent of the total food intake globally. This report states that about 6.87 crore tonnes of food is wasted every year in Indian homes.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) prepared food waste index, 2021 and according to this report, so much food was wasted in homes, retail stores, restaurants and other places of catering.
According to this, 61 percent of 93.10 crore tonnes of wasted food comes from households, 26 percent from food services and 13 percent from retail locations. According to the report, 121 kg of food is being wasted per person per year in the world. Of these, the share is 74 kg per household.
According to UNEP Executive Director Inger Anderson, if we do not understand our accountability for climate change and loss of natural resources, then we will have to bear the brunt of this one day.
Every country and every citizen of the world has to take care that not a single grain of food is spoiled. Rich countries are at the forefront of deteriorating food production. Significantly, the United Nations has resolved to reduce food waste by the year 2030.
America, China lead in food waste, India better than South Asia
According to the report, 50 kg of food per person per household in India gets wasted every year or in other words, 68,760,163 tonnes of food is wasted every year in Indian homes. At the same time, 59 kg of food per person per year is wasted in American homes, while 64 kg of food is wasted in China.
At the same time, India ranks last in the list of countries who waste per capita food annually in South Asian countries. Afghanistan tops the list with 82 kg. It is followed by Nepal with 79 kg, Sri Lanka with 76 kg, Pakistan with 74 kg and then Bangladesh with 65 kg.
Weighing the total wasted food, it will fit into 2.3 crore trucks, in which 40 tons of food will be completely filled. This is enough to revolve around the Earth seven times. This report states that about 11 percent of food is wasted from households, about 5 per cent from food services and about 2 per cent from retailers. This causes social and environmental harm.
At the same time, the economic condition of the country is also adversely affected. It also has an impact on the emission of greenhouse gases, as 8–10 percent of global greenhouse emissions are directly related to wasted food.
69 crores victims of starvation in 2019, 300 crores did not get good food
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, in 2019, 69 million people were hungry. At the same time, 300 crore people could not get healthy food. According to the new report, the number of starving people is expected to increase drastically during the Covid-19 epidemic.
