Food waste can be halved through concerted, collaborative effort, advises UN analysis
Photo for representation. Credit: iStock India, along with China, South Africa, Indonesia and Mexico, needs representative national food waste studies given variance in data, according to the latest report released by the United Nations on March 27, 2024.
The country, along with Indonesia and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) have only ‘subnational estimates’ regarding food waste, the report noted. Meanwhile, Argentina and Turkiye have no estimates for household food waste.
“In countries with multiple medium confidence estimates for household food waste, substantial variance is observed. This variance, especially in China and South Africa, but also in India, Indonesia, and Mexico, demonstrates the need for representative national food waste studies in these countries,” the report, titled Think Eat Save: Tracking Progress to Halve Global Food Waste, read.
The analysis locates India in the Southern Asia subregion of Asia-Pacific. The other subregions include Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Micronesia, and Melanesia and Polynesia.
An estimate of household food waste has been identifed from each region, with the exception of Central Asia and Polynesia, according to the report.
Southern Asia had the greatest number of household food waste datapoints, with 31 estimates over seven countries, equating to an estimate for all countries in the subregion except Iran and Nepal.
The report defines a “datapoint” as an individual estimate in a study included in the calculation. “Some countries have multiple datapoints due to having multiple studies from different time periods or different subnational areas,” it noted.
India, for instance, is among countries that have estimates from both rural and urban areas:
In countries with one rural and several urban datapoints, there is more variation; the rural datapoint in Ethiopia is equal to the highest urban estimate, and the rural Indian estimate is slightly above the average of the urban datapoints, with Pakistan having the rural datapoint as the lowest of those identifed.
The UN report cites estimates from studies conducted in 6 Indian locations as per studies conducted in different years:
Southern Asia shows a large range of food waste estimates — from 19 kilograms per capita per year for Bhutan to 212 kilograms per capita per year for Pakistan.
In Bhutan, a nationwide waste audit assigned a high confidence rating. It suggested that in “rural areas where there are no waste collecting facilities […] they use food wastes as either animal food or dumped in vegetable gardens directly.”
The report notes “…countries with disaggregated data for urban and rural areas are relatively rare, but typically show lower levels of food waste in rural areas”.
This, it says, may be because rural areas have greater circularity in their food systems (including feeding scraps to animals and composting). Also, special attention is needed to help circularity thrive in the city.
Besides Bhutan, food waste estimates for Pakistan stood at 212 kilograms per capita per year. The Maldives had two estimates of 209 and 206 kilograms per capita per year across 2018 and 2019. Afghanistan produced an estimate of 186 kilograms per capita per year.
The report also revealed some very worrying statistics regarding food waste worldwide.
Food worth more than US$1 trillion is wasted every year. The report calls this a ‘market failure’. The wastage of food is also an ‘environmental failure’, it says. This is because food waste generates an estimated 8-10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and takes up the equivalent of nearly 30 per cent of the world’s agricultural land.
Even as even as food is being thrown away in such voluminous amounts, up to 783 million people are affected by hunger each year. Some 150 million children under the age of five suffer stunted growth and development due to a chronic lack of essential nutrients in their diets.
Global food waste datapoints have doubled since 2021. That is when the Food Waste Index Report 2021 was released.
Yet, as the report finds, few countries have robust baselines suitable for tracking progress to 2030.
It urges governments, cities, food businesses, researchers and non-governmental organisations of all sizes globally to play a role in joint efforts to change practices and behaviours; target hotspots; innovate; and deliver SDG 12.3.
The Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 aims to halve global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses, including postharvest losses, along supply chains by 2030.
“Halving food waste is a job that is too large for any one stakeholder. However, it can be achieved through concerted, collaborative effort to commit to the SDG 12.3 target, accurately measure food waste, and most importantly act to achieve food waste reduction,” the report states.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.