Food Wastage : A Stain On Mankind

There are genuinely sufficient resources in the world to ensure that no one, nowhere, at no time, should go hungry.” Ed Asner

Our world is progressing at an unimaginable pace. With the advent of a new decade, We have self-driving electric cars, plans of colonization on Mars and even space travel for citizens. This is certainly a new bright dawn for mankind in the age of technology but every light has its shadow. While we look up towards space, dreaming about the endless possibilities, 9.9% of the total world population i.e. 811 million people go to bed daily without any food.

Global Hunger refers to the pocket of the human population that doesn’t have regular access to food resources. The condition is worsening as numbers keep on increasing and have been on a steady rise since 2017 with a growth of 118 million in just a single year.

The most chilling fact about the statistics presented above is the reason why global hunger still exists. Global Hunger still exists not because of the scarcity of food resources, on the contrary, according to studies conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the world produces more than 1 ½ times enough food to feed everyone on the planet. That’s already enough to feed 10 billion people whereas we only have a population of 7.8 Billion people and the rate of global food production has increased faster than the global population growth. World Hunger exists only because of inequality and poverty, it exists because we waste food. This is a blight on those that have the privilege to have food and yet decide to waste it.

An estimated 931 million tonnes of food, or 17 per cent of total food available to consumers in 2019, went into the waste bins of households, retailers, restaurants and other food services, according to the Food Waste Index Report 2021 published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).In developing countries, some of this food waste is due to a lack of infrastructure and lack of storing units. The notable point is that 11% of the total food waste comes from households. It means that we who are privileged enough to eat food are the ones responsible for global hunger. Our lack of knowledge as consumers about our role in eradicating global hunger makes the situation worse. While we waste food resources millions of underprivileged don’t even have grains of food. 

"When we waste food, we waste all the resources that go into producing and transporting the food, such as land, water and fuel use. When food ends up in landfills, it also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, causing environment concern. Hence, we must stop wasting food at all the costs, in the large interest of the teeming millions." - Mehta Nagendra Singh, environmentalists.

It is our responsibility as consumers to understand the importance of buying only what is necessary and consuming only what we require. Our collective actions can make impacts that even governments are incapable of. These impacts come with proper knowledge of how we can ensure that we are not wasting food and providing it to the needy and hungry.

                               Blog By ~ Achint Arora