Wasting food is a crime against humanity. At the national level, 20-30 per cent is wasted as dry grains, 10 per cent perish as fruits and vegetables, five per cent more gets wasted as processed food.
Food wasted during harvest and post-harvest of crops, transportation, storage and damage by insects/pests or fungi or due to moist condition are not reckoned as wastage, but when a holistic view is taken, it can be concluded that reducing wastage is as important as enhancing production.
Velamoor Rajagopal, an agricultural scientist who retired as the Director of Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod (Kerala), delivered a lecture on the occasion of ‘World Food Day' at the Regional Science Centre recently, where he dwelt on cascading effect of the wastage at various levels on the rising starvation rate in the country.
He told the students that 35-40 crore people go without food every day.
Putting the investment on one hungry person per day at Rs.10, he says thousand people can be fed a year with Rs.36.5 lakh.
Save food
“Food wasted at parties and marriages can be used to feed those who long for one square meal”, he told the students and advised them never to waste food.
On the hunger scale, Dr.Rajagopal rates the reactions as physically fainting, ravenous, fairly hungry, slightly hungry, neutral, pleasantly satisfied, full, stuffed and bloated overeaters (from the chronically hungry to the rich).
He cited mechanisation of farm activities, improved warehousing and transportation with cold storage as solutions to tackle wastage at the higher level.
Dr. Rajagopal appealed to the students to demand 10-20 per cent of unconsumed food in hotels and parties be allotted to organised poor-feeding networks and spread awareness on curbing wastage of food.
RSC Project Coordinator K. Madangopal and others took part.
The Society for Hunger Elimination (SHE), founded by Dr. Rajagopal, invites new ideas from young participants to remove hunger.
He can be contacted at rajvel44@gmail.com.
