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Impact of food loss and wastage on economy – G20 leading the way
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Tuesday, 21 November, 2023, 12 : 00 PM [IST]
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P. Paulin Patricia and M. Loganathan
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Population is growing at a rate of around 0.88% per year in 2023 and it is expected to reach 9 billion in the year 2037. World food production accounts to 9.3 billion tons. It has been estimated that 1.2 billion tons of edible foods are lost between harvest and retail. According to Food and Agriculture (2019), globally 14 per cent of food valued at $400 billion is lost between harvest and retail. Whereas, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Food Waste Index reports 17 percent of food is further gets wasted at the retail and consumer level. According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), food wastage at different stages results in 2.5 billion tons of edible food gets wasted. Reducing food loss and waste is crucial to fight against hunger and achieving sustainable development goals.
India is one of the largest producer as well as consumer of food. India produces about 315.7 million tons of food grains in 2021-22 (Press Information Bureau, 2023). About, 50,000 crore of food produced gets wasted every year in India. Nearly, 22.3 percent of people in India experiences extreme food security. Food insecurity is one of the predominant causes of hunger and malnutrition globally.
According to the estimates, nearly 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions accounts to food left as landfills. It contributes to an unstable climatic condition, which leads to extreme weather changes such as prolonged drought, frequent flood and heat waves. This climatic change significantly affects the crop yield, nutritional quality, supply chain and food security. The resources such as water, soil nutrients, land, energy and initial investment used for the production of wasted food significantly affects the economy. If this situation continues, food loss and waste will double by 2050.
By considering these facts, G20 countries took initiative action in order to prevent food loss and wastage in 2015. They made certain guidelines to plan and implement actions to protect our environment from global warming, enhance economic status of farmers and improve food and nutritional security.
Holistic approach to sustainable food system
Achieving food and nutrition security throughout the food system is the core of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are the following factors to be considered in the food system.
1. Systematic cultivation involves periodic rotation of crops and limiting monocrop cultivation
2. Postharvest Management includes:
- Following threshing and proper cleaning techniques
- Awareness about post-harvest management
- Developing of farm processing facilities
- Developing chilling and ripening unit
- Supply chain management
- Improved infrastructures for storage
3. Cold chain management at different stages of transportation
4. Adopting optimal packaging techniques
Consumers approach
- Knowledge about stock management and marketing strategies.
- Consumers should understand difference in food labels.
- Proper planning, purchasing, cooking, consuming and storage reduces one third of food loss from consumers.
- Contribute food waste to hunger by connecting with potential food donors like food banks and pantries.
- Food waste can be recycled to feed animals, create compost and generate bioenergy.
The G20 agricultural ministers have recognized food loss and waste as a significant global problem. Addressing food loss and waste is crucial for food security, sustainability, and reducing the environmental impact of food production.
Key actors and their roles in reducing food loss
The key actor plays major role in the food system to reduce food loss and wastage consistently through certain approaches.
Governments
Governments should make goals and set targets to prevent food wastage by providing environmental policies and incentives, support research and innovations and create awareness through education campaigns. Through this approach, 25% food loss and waste are reduced globally with 12% reduction in food calorie gap. Agro land usage is also reduced by 27% with greenhouse gas mitigation gap (GHG) by 15%.
Traders
Traders can indeed be key drivers of innovation in reducing post-harvest losses by fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors, sharing knowledge and implementing best practices. Thus, improving the efficiency of operations at all stages of the supply chain is a key to reducing post-harvest losses.
Farmers
Farmers should take necessary action to reduce on farm losses and loss occurred during transportation to the market by proper cleaning and grading immediately after the harvest. In the case of grains, it must be dried to optimum moisture content along with cleaning and grading. This approach enhances the income and livelihoods of small and marginal farmers.
Consumers
The household waste can be reduced by cooking nutritional food as per the daily requirement of family and avoiding food going to landfills. The excess food may be shared with the people who are in need of directly or through agencies. The consumers should aware of impact of food wastage and teach to their family members. This could increase health benefits, makes city clean and reduce household expenses.
Civil society
Building sustainable food systems, reducing food waste, raising awareness and addressing supply chain and policy barriers are essential components of a mission to support ecosystems and reduce climatic risks. These efforts not only help to protect the environment but also enhance food security.
The G20 countries adopted “Target, Measure and Act” approach to minimize challenges faced by the society to reduce food loss and waste. For successful implementation, it requires coordinated efforts from multiple stakeholders, including governments, businesses, and consumers.
Target
Establishing targets for reducing food loss and waste is the first step. These targets can be based on research findings and requirements identified through collaboration between researchers and institutions.
The major greenhouse gas emitting G20 countries like China, the United States and India committed to address food loss and waste as part of their Nationally Determined Contribution goals to fight against climate change and for sustainable food systems. These efforts can have far reaching positive impacts on both environmental and societal fronts.
Measure
The establishment of a network for data exchange and communication can support the measurement and monitoring of progress toward food loss and waste reduction targets. Real-time data can help track performance and identify areas that need improvement.
Act
Governments must organise skill development training, international workshops, and conferences for researchers and institutions to play a vital role in capacity building. Researchers and professionals can acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to address food loss and waste effectively. It was decided
- To establish different techniques to build gap between researchers and institutions working on innovative projects to enhance the dissemination of research findings, and identify research gaps and requirements.
- To establish a network to connect researchers, exchange data, share communication tools to encourage research and information sharing.
- To organise skill development training, international workshops and conferences.
To meet rapid population growth and food demand several advanced cultivation methods have been adopted with the usage of pesticides and fertilizers to increase food production leads to ecological problems such as soil erosion, loss of biological species, and water scarcity. Reducing food loss and wastage can mitigate the effect of climate change. The cause of Food Loss and Wastage varies to developed and developing countries. In developing countries, food loss occurred due to limitations in managerial and technical skills in harvesting, production, processing, storage infrastructure and marketing. Whereas, in developed countries food wastage occurred mainly by consumer behavior and lack of awareness about food wastage. Therefore by adopting a multifaceted approach that addresses the specific challenges faced by both developed and developing countries, the G20 countries can work towards more sustainable and resilient food systems that balance food security with environmental protection.
(Patricia belongs to National Institute for Food Technology and Entrepreneurship Management, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu;
Loganathan belongs to National Institute for Food Technology and Entrepreneurship Management, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.
They can be reached at logu@iifpt.edu.in)
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