Dr. Arvind Kumar*
In spite of the considerable progress made during the last several decades in reducing hunger, as of 2024 almost 800 million people are chronically undernourished. An estimated 161 million children under five years are stunted. In 2024 food security is likely to remain one of the critical challenges for the world to face. India is ranked 111th position out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index, 2023.The world population has reached 8 billion and is expected to keep climbing at a rate of 1% every decade at least until 2050. FAO estimates that, to satisfy the growing demand driven by population growth and dietary changes, food production will have to increase by 60 percent by 2050. So many people mean more mouths to feed and more resources needed.
The food industry generates and grows more produce than is necessary, draining earth’s precious freshwater resources. Today, an estimated one-third of all the food produced in the world goes to waste. The issue of worldwide food wastage has a major effect on society, the environment and the economy. That’s equal to about 1.3 billion tons of fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, seafood, and grains that either never leave the farm, get lost or spoiled during distribution, or are thrown away in hotels, grocery stores, restaurants, schools, or home kitchens. It could be enough calories to feed every undernourished person on the planet. According to the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021, household food waste in India is estimated to be… to be around 50 kg per person annually, or 68.76 million tonnes. We can’t talk about food waste without talking about water waste. Every food item grown, produced, processed, cleaned and transported has its own ‘water footprint’, using up earth’s precious freshwater reserves.
Shouldn’t food losses and waste be reduced to minimize the waste of resources and associated environmental impacts?
What are the broader range of measures or policy measures addressing these areas?
Sustainable consumption and production by individuals and companies is an imperative, this can involve consuming less, choosing products with lower environmental impacts, and reducing the carbon footprint of day-to-day activities. Recent analyses suggest that a combination of approaches (regulations, economic incentives and information) works better than regulations alone. Food Wastage can be greatly reduced by putting in place efficient supply-chain and cols chain practices such as cold storage facilities and better inventory management. A whopping 70% of Earth’s precious freshwater reserves are used for agriculture, to grow the food for the world that, in many cases, ends up getting thrown away. Rescuing food from waste also means rescuing water.
Mitigating food and water loss
Agriculture– especially intensive agriculture, characterised by monocultures and aimed at feeding farm animals – is one of the sectors that generates the highest number of emissions of CO2 (the main greenhouse gas). This quantity can be compared only to the sum total of the CO2 emitted by all forms of transportation. Meanwhile, about one-quarter of produced food is lost along the food-supply chain, accounting for 24 percent of the freshwater resources used in food-crop production, 23 percent of total global cropland area and 23 percent of total global fertilizer use. The interplay between climate change and food security is multifaceted and complex. Changing precipitation patterns disrupt planting and harvesting schedules, while more frequent and severe droughts parch arable lands, decimating crops and depleting water sources. Conversely, intense rainfall events lead to flooding, washing away fertile topsoil and destroying crops in their wake.
The El Nino event and climate change-related weather phenomena made 2023 the hottest year on record and many countries were grappling with prolonged recovery from drought or flooding. Climate change poses an existential threat to humanity’s most fundamental need: food security. With each passing year, the impact of shifting weather patterns, rising temperatures, and extreme weather events becomes increasingly evident in agricultural landscapes worldwide. The consequences of these changes extend far beyond mere fluctuations in crop yields; they represent a looming crisis that demands immediate attention and concerted action.
When we waste food, we also waste all the energy and water it takes to grow, harvest, transport, and package it. And if food goes to the landfill and rots, it produces methane—a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. About 6%-8% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food. If we avoid producing food that we don’t eat, we can save the land, water, and energy that would have been used to make it. And awareness is a good first step; according to ReFED, educating consumers about food waste could prevent 7.41 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. In India, 40% of the food wasted is equivalent to nearly 92,000 crore/year.
Way Ahead
Efforts to enhance food security must prioritise sustainability, recognising the intrinsic link between agricultural practices and environmental health. Embracing regenerative agriculture practices, such as agroforestry, crop rotation, and soil conservation, can not only sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but also improve soil health and enhance resilience to climate change. The right policies and incentives can encourage diets that are more sustainable and healthier and so moderate increases in food demand. Before any action, to design cost-effective measures for preventing pollution and mitigating risks, managers, planners and lawmakers need to know the state of aquatic ecosystems, the nature and dynamics of the drivers and pressures that lead to water-quality degradation, and the impacts of such degradation on human health and the environment. Furthermore, citizens across the globe must collectively take steps to reduce their individual carbon footprint climate change also leads to loss of crops and eventually food crisis across the world. As the world’s population continues to grow, our challenge should not be how to grow more food, but to feed more people while wasting less of what we already produce.
*Editor, Focus Global Reporter
