It's time for Indians as a whole to wake to the problem of food wastage in the country which is equivalent to the food consumed by many countries

1. DONATE TO CHARITIES LIKE
AKSHAYA PATRA TO PREVENT
FOOD WASTAGE

2. The Akshaya Patra Foundation © 2017
In a nation where millions of people do not have access to even clean drinking water, around 25
per cent of the fresh water used to produce food is wasted, it should shock many of us awake if
we calculate the astonishing figures. It has been estimated to be equivalent to an average river
flowing in India.
An estimate by the US's Department of Agriculture, though the world produces enough food to
feed twice the present population, food wastage is behind malnourishment of millions of people
across many countries. The number of hungry people in India has increased by 65 million,
according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). This number is as much as or more
than many of the other nations.
One of the NGOs in Bangalore, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, has been making all efforts to
minimise the wastage of food in the running of its school lunch programme; starting with the way
they are stored, to the way they are cooked and distributed.
Land use
Hundreds of thousands of acres of land are deforested to grow food every year. Approximately,
45 per cent of India’s land is degraded, primarily due to deforestation, unsustainable agricultural
practices and excessive groundwater use to meet the demand for food. In the last two years,

3. The Akshaya Patra Foundation © 2017
though, India has retained and increased its forest area by more than 14,000 hectares (second
largest after China).
A shocking story is that of the nation having edible oil as its third largest import. But, the wastage
of food is said to lead to around 300 million barrels of oil used to produce food ultimately going
waste due to the wastage of such food. According to a paper, India is said to waste as much food
as that consumed by the United Kingdom.
This is not a palatable statistic when we realise that millions still sleep hungry on the streets
Tackling the Food Wastage
According to the UN body of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), food wastage is fast assuming
serious dimensions. According to an FAO statistic, a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes of food is
wasted annually.
Many of the social reasons also play a role in this. All the social functions and social joints in India,
especially in the northern and central parts, functions such as weddings, the canteens, hotels, social and
family functions, households, end up wasting a lot of food.
The money one may spend in buying the food which goes unutilised can be used to sponsor a child
instead. It is to be noted that food wastage can cripple a country’s economy much more seriously than
we realise.
The world's largest NGO-run mid-day meal programme serves wholesome school lunch to over 1.6 million
children in 13,800+ schools across 12 States in India. This amount can be used to feed the starving millions
in the country.
One could donate to charity to help causes like the one supported by Akshaya Patra.
While we may not be able to reduce food lost during production, we can certainly reduce food
wastage at our personal level.
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