Page 38, THISDAY, Vol. 16, No. 5867,
Tu esday, May 17, 2011
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BusinessWORLD
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BOl/wi/1I1 CtUJQ"O III/n'ts'
Excess Food All Around, None to Eat In this report, Crusoe Osagie considers the irony of massivefood waste and chronic hunger occun-ing across the globe simultaneously Hunger amid Excess
H
unger amI food waste in Nige ria and across the world lire :10 unfonumlll:: irony. While: in some areas there is too much 10 eat. in OIlie r IIorens. there is hunge r 3ml 5lar· varion. In Nigeria. food wastage is more from post.harvest losse.~ . which is the rl'sul t of the lack of callacity 10 process ;1:no ~Iure. 110\\'1:\-l:r, in the Wes tenl wOIIiL f(I()J waste lX;CIlfl' morC' in homes alld ~ lI pe mla rkt[s than inlht' ]Hlmls ofpririlllr), food producers. Ro\uShly one third of the food produced in the world (ur hum:m ((ln~lllnplion c\ery year· approximmel)' 1.3 billion lon nC'~
• gets lost or wasted, according 10 a Food ami
Agncu ltu ral Organisa tion (FAO)-com m issioned study, This COlOSS11 1 focK! ":lste occurs in the SlUM. worl d where O\'er a billion people ~o 10 bed hu ngry e\'ery nigh l. n le document, ' Glob31 Food los.'IeS and Food Waste', \Va.~ rommissioned by FAO from the Swctlish Inslitu te for Food and Biotechnology (SIK) fO( Save Food , an inte mational congres.~ being held in Dil.sscldod May 16- 11 at the trade fil ir or the in lernational packagi ng indumy Interpack20 I I . Other kt:) findings include: • I ndustrial i~d and developing cou ntries diMi pate roughly Ihe same quantities or food - respect ively 610 and 630 million tonn6. • Every year. consumers in neh coumrie~ wasle almost as much food (22.: m illion tonnes) as the' entire net food produclion uf sub-Saharan Africa (230 mi llion 1( 01)(':5). • FmilS and vege tables. pl us rool'i and tubers have the hi!! hCS I .... aslag.: rates o f any food . • 111c amount of food lost or wasted e~'ery year is equiva lent to more than half of the world's ann ual cereals crop (2.3 bi llion 10IlOes In 2009(20 10).
Losses and "Vaste n le refKl n d is tingu ishes between rood luss and rood wasle. Food losses - occu rring at the prod uction , harves t. post-har.'es t :lnd proceui ng pha.'lCs - are 1I10S1 importanl in dewclo ping countries , due to poor infrns tructu re. low le\'els of techno logy and low investment in the food proo uction systc ms . Food wa.~t e i5 more a problem in industrialised countries. mO!'t often c!lYsed by both ret ai l c~ and consumCD throw ing f)t'rfectly edible foodstuffs into Ihe trash . Per capita was te by consu meD i5 bet\\een 95- t 15 kg a year in Europe and NOr1 h A me rica . while consumers in sub-Saharan Africa and South ~nd Soulheasl Asia each throw away only &- 11 kg a year. T0ll11 per capita food production for human consumption is
about 900 kg a )'ear in ric h cou ntries, almost twice the -160 kg a year produced in the poorest regtons. ln de\'d o ping cou ntries 40 pe r cenl or losses occnr at post-harv~ t ami processing levels w hile in industriali7m cou ntries mor~ than 40 per cenl of I~ h~ I'JlC n at retai l and consu mer levels. Food losses du n ng ho rves t and in storage tran slate into los t inco me for small fanners and int o highC' r pricC's for poor consumers. the' report noted , Red uci ng losses could therefore have an "immedia te and sig nifican t" imp:lct ou thei r liveli h{)C)ds aud food ~cu rity.
Squ a ndering Resources Food loss and was te also amou nt 10 a major squ:lndering 0(. resou rces, incl ud ing water, land. energy,labour an d capital and needlessly produce: greenhouse gas emissions. contri bu ting to g lobalwan ning and cl imate change. . 1be report offered a nu mber o f practical suggest ions on how to reduce losses and waste . In de~'elopi ng cou ntries Ihe problem IS chie n y one of in3deq ua te M r.·cst techni quC5 , poor post·harves t manageme nt and logistics. lack of sui table infraslruc;l ure , processing and packagi ng. and lock of mrui;:e ling information wh ich would allow production 10 better ma tch dem:lnd. nle ad vice is there fore 10 stre ngthe n the food supply chain by ass isting small farmers to link directly to buyers. The pr1\'ate :md public sectors shou ld also invesl more in infrastructure. trnnspon at ion and in proc:essi ng and packaging. In midd le - and high-income cou nt ries food losses and waste slem la r~e ly from consu mer be haviou r bu t also from lack of commu nICa tion between differe nt actors in the supply chai n.
Over-emphasis on Appea.-ance
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At retail level. large qua ntities o f food are also wasted due to qua lity slll ntlards tha t o\'er-t'mphas ise appearnllce. S un'eys ~how tha t consumers nre will ing to buy produce nol meeting appeamnce standards ns long as it is sare: and tastes good . C ustomers thus ha\'e Ihe power 10 Influcnce qu alilY slandards an d ~ h o u ld do 50 , the repo rt said . Sellin! rann produce clO5Cr to co nsumers, wi thout hav in g 10 cOl1rorm to 5l1 pemmrkels' q uali t)' standards. is anothe r sllgges· lion, This could be ach ieved Ihro ugh fanners' ma rkets and farm shops. Good usc for food th aI would otherwise be thrown away should be focmd , Commercial anti charity or!!ani sations C{luld work wi th retai lers to coll cct. and Ihen :sell or U5C prodUClS tlmt ha\'e been disposed of bu t are ni ll good m lerm5 o f ~nfCly, lasle and nu tritiona l ,·alue .
Changing Consumer Attitudes
- M ill Agric, Prof, Shrikh AlHia/fa/,
Consumers m rich courIlries are ge nerall) ~ncourallctllO buy more food than they need , "Buy three. pay 1"'0" promotions are nnt' ellam ple. wh ile the: 0\'ersl1e:d ready -Io-eal meals produced by the food industry are anothe r. Rest auranl~ frequently oITer fi xed· price buffels that ~ pur customers 10 heap thei r plates. . Genernlly spc:akmg. consumers fai l to pla n their rood purchases properly. the repon ro und . That means they often throw food away when '~ st -be rore" dllles expired. Education in sc hools and political inilialiv('s are: pos~lble start ing poi nts 10 chan ging co nsumer alt itudes. the report <uggested . RiC h-country cons umers should be taught Iha t th m wing food away need lessl y is unacce:ptab1c:. They should also be made aware: Ihal give n the limiled avai l· abilit y of natural resources it is more errecti\'e to reduce: food losses than increase food llroduction in onkr to feed a growing "'orld popu lation. A !eparate rtpon on food paekaging rorde\'eloping countries also pl"C'pared for lhe Save Food ! Congress ooted that appropri· me packaging IS a key factor Impaclmg on losses occurring al almost e,'ery stage o f (1)(': food cha m.