India wastes as much food as the UK consumes

With a population of more than 1.20 billion people India is one of the top most countries that wastes huge quantities of food everyday. In fact one statistical figure based on a survey declares that India wastes as much food as United Kingdom consumes…!  And this can easily be proved by our overflowing streets, garbage bins and landfills in and around the city. The wastage is also visible across marriages, canteens, hotels, public functions, social / family events and households.

According to the United Nations Development Programme, nearly 40% of the food produced in India goes waste. For ex: nearly 21 million tonnes of wheat goes waste in India. It is also estimated that more than 50% of all the food produced across the world meets the same fate, and unfortunately, never reaches the needy. In fact, according to one of the reports by the Dept. of Agriculture, approximately fifty thousand crores worth of food produced in India is wasted every year. Off late we have seen, in India, bigger the wedding, larger the party and greater the waste. But, it's the same case with most of the restaurants and hotels as well… They contribute equally, if not more, to the food wastage.

Interestingly, there is also awareness among people across the world about this issue… While some restaurants in India employ food controllers to check food spoilage/wastage, others donate it to their staff and the needy. Also, smaller restaurants donate it to orphanages and other public utility arenas so as to reach out to those who actually are in need of food.

All said and done - it is very important to understand why food wastage a problem…! It is not just about the food being wasted, but various other precious resources that gets wasted, which otherwise could have been efficiently utilized by many…. Some alarming facts that we should always keep in mind while consuming food are as follows:

"Hundreds of acres of forest land is cleared to grow food. Nearly 50% of India's land is converted primarily due to deforestation, non-scientific agricultural practices, unsustainable farming and over-exploitation of groundwater resources to meet the food requirement.