India’s Food Wastage Is Equivalent To What United Kingdom Consumes Says Study

“Indians waste as much food as the whole of United Kingdom consumes,” says United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Taking into consideration all of Indian social functions and gatherings mostly in Northern and Central areas lead to an enormous wastage of food. The list includes marriages, hotels, family functions, canteens and households.

According to the UNDP, 21 million tonnes of wheat produced by India is wasted. 40% of the Indian food produce is also bound to be wasted and 50% of the food in the world as well. The major concern being that the food never reaches the needy. The food wasted in India is worth Rs.50, 000 crore annually according to the agriculture ministry.

India stands as the 66^th amongst 88 nations that fall under the Global Hunger Index (GHI, UN data). The wastage not only sheds light on hunger, climate change and pollution but also on economic faults like inflation. The cultures and traditions also play a big role in hosting bigger parties leading to higher wastage due to which the government policies cannot be entirely blamed.

India also wastes 25% of fresh water used for produce by wasting food which is a little more than an average river flowing in the country. World food produce is enough to feed twice the current population but still people are malnourished due to wastage according to an estimate by US department of agriculture. 65 million people in India are hungry. The third largest importer of edible oil is India and due to wastage of food, 300 million barrels of oil is wasted. 45% of the land is degraded in India owning to massive deforestation to grow food.

“My ministry works as a catalyst. It has the potential for doing a couple of things which are the need of the hour. Firstly, bring down food wastage. Food is being wasted at the harvest point and during transportation. If the same food which is wasted can be processed, it would mean it could either be available in raw form or in bottled form at a price which is affordable to the common man,” says Harsimarat Kaur, the Minister of Food Processing.