Hunger management: Stemming colossal food waste
From advances in production, distribution and storage, to using technology to feed the needy, we look at some problems and work-arounds to resolve India’s food wastage problem
Curated By: Madhu Kapparath
India is growing more food but also wasting up to 67 million tonnes of it every year, says a study by Ciphet, the farm ministry’s harvest-research body. Supply chain bottlenecks, poor handling and storage facilities have led to high rates of spoilage. The value of food lost – Rs 92,000 crore – is two-thirds of what it costs the government to support 600 million Indians with subsidized ration under the National Food Security programme. Delhi Food Banking Network, founded by Kuldeep Nar, collects non-perishable food items — pulses, rice, flour — and provides one nutritional meal every day to 10,000 people at 43 feeding sites in Delhi-NCR. Nar’s organisation works with NGOs who collect the food from its warehouse in Gurgaon and do the cooking on site.
