“Reducing Food Loss and Waste” Report

“Reducing Food Loss and Waste” Report

• It is a new report published by the World Resources Institute (WRI) with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation.
• It has quantified global food wastage.
• It put forward a Global Action Agenda that calls on governments, companies, farmers and consumers to collectively overcome “the world’s food loss and waste problem.”
• Some of these actions include developing national strategies for food loss and waste reduction, creating national PPP, launch supply chain initiatives, reducing small-holder losses and shifting consumer social norms.

Globally uneaten food

• Nearly one-third of the food that is produced each year goes uneaten, costing the global economy over $940 billion.
• The uneaten food is responsible for emitting about 8 per cent of planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, said the report.
• Referencing “numerous studies”, the report said most of the food loss happens “near the farm” predominantly in lower-income countries.
• And most of the food waste happens “near the plate” predominantly in higher-income countries.

Most perishable items

• Fruits and vegetables follow, with over 41%.
• When viewed as a proportion, by weight, of all the food estimated to be lost and wasted globally, fruits and vegetables make up the largest share of total annual food loss and waste.
• Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the report concluded that roots and tubers are the food group that face the maximum wastage, at over 62% for 2007.