Did you know that India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, producing (global average) 41% of mango, 23% of banana and 36% of green peas. Not only that, thanks to the Operation Flood that was launched in the 70s, India is also the largest milk producer in the world, accounting for as much as 17% of the global output.
But before we pat ourselves and take pride in the achievements, there is another set of statistics that equally seek our attention. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) approximately 194.6 million people are undernourished in India which accounts for the highest number of people suffering from hunger in any single country. In fact, 15.2% of Indians are too undernourished to lead a normal life. India ranks 55th on the Global Hunger Index (GHI). With one-third of world's malnourished children living in India, 3000 kids die in India daily due to diet related factors. Not to mention, according to UNICEF, 47% of Indian children are underweight and 46% of those under three years old are too small for their age.
This is the sad reality of affairs in India, where even after a 'Green Revolution' and 'Operation Flood', millions go without a meal and thousands die of malnutrition on a daily basis. And this brings us to the essential question, why is there such a vast discrepancy between the two? In spite of producing so much, why do so many go hungry? Is there a rational explanation for this discordance?
Indeed, there is. And the problem, while much complex in its composition is very easy to explain in words. The primary issue for much of India's hunger pangs can be be blamed on ‘Food Wastage’.
In fact the problem of food wastage is so amazing, as it is ironical. Till a few decades back kids across the Western Hemisphere were made to eating unpalatable 'healthy' stuff with the rider that hungry kids in India would readily lap this up. Even in India, families are conscientious about wastage, almost considering it as a sacrilege. And yet as a society that lays emphasis on every morsel on the plate, there is an enormous amount of wastage that occurs on a national scale.
According to a UN Report on food waste and its impact on natural resources, India ranks as the top of the countries that have food waste. Globally, one-third of the food produced is wasted, with the impact on economy being estimated as $750 Billion. On an overall scale of wastage, namely, agricultural produce, poultry and dairy —India ranks seventh. But, since a large part of our land is used for producing food stuff, and not for raising cattle and poultry for meat, India would thus rank at the very top for wastage of pulses, cereals, vegetables and fruits. According to a government estimate, the agriculture produce to the tune of Rs. 58,000 crore (approximately 40% of total) is lost annually due to wastage.
Hence, look at the scenario, while 17% of Indians sleep hungry every night, 40% of food that we produce is wasted or left to rot. How appalling is that!
The primary reason of this wastage rests with the inadequate capacity of storage that is available in India. Thousands of tons of food-grain rot in ill-equipped warehouses across India. Approximately, 23 million tonnes of wheat are wasted each year because of improper storage, which would be sufficient to feed as many as 70 million Indians. This is the very reason why a bench in Supreme Court hearing a petition had come down heavily on food wastage, dubbing it as a crime. “In a country where people are starving, wastage of a single grain is a crime. It has come out in the official records that food stocks are lying waste,” noted a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma.
In advanced countries, cold storage forms an important part of the food industry and right from warehouses to trucks the whole chain is refrigerated to cut down as much as possible. Sadly, that is certainly not the case in India, the Saumitra Chaudhuri Committee, constituted by the Planning Commission in 2012, had estimated the country’s cold storage requirement as 61.3 million tonne as against the present capacity of around 29 million tonne. Whereas only 10% foods get cold storage facility in India, states a survey by IIM Kolkata. There are many wide gaps in cold chain infrastructure, adding to the fact that it is a very fragmented market.
The reason why cold storage can play a critical role is because it can greatly augment shelf life of products for instance, the life of apples can be increased to up to 240 days by storing them at 0°c, onions up to 180 days at 1°c, potatoes close to 50 days at 10°c and tomatoes up to 14 days at 12°c. This is important because to transport apples by road from Delhi to Chennai, it apparently takes 8 days. So, a great share of the wastage can be curtailed simply by adding cold storage systems.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not as if the government is oblivious to the need for expanding the cold chain footprint. The government has listed agri food as a priority sector, opened it up to FDI, and is establishing mega food parks across the length and breadth of India. There is also the creation of National centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD) under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture to promote and develop integrated cold chain infrastructure in India.
Yet, keeping in mind the sheer size of problem, there is much more that needs to be done both by the public and private sector. It was long thought that with the entry of retail MNCs in India, the supply-chain and logistics will automatically undergo an upgrade. So, if a Wal-Mart comes in, so would its best practices in the supply chain. But that has been stalled due to varying reasons from political to ideological. But lot of Indian retails chains are indeed putting up cold chain systems to cut down on the waste and thus be able to control the cost.
In the end, the impact of food wastage is largely felt by the most vulnerable in the society. Over the past many years, the food prices have been consistently rising, and it is the poor whose grocery bills accounts for almost 40% of the household budget, are the worst sufferers. Curbing wastage would have a direct impact on prices, and thus it is of utmost importance. Also, with India's population growing at a constant, 1.5% per year and slated to touch 1.7 Billion by 2050, we just don't have enough arable land, irrigation or energy to provide food for so many more. There is just no alternative but to stop the waste outflow. And just as we are careful and sanctimonious about wasting food on our plate, we need to be on national scale. Else all the revolutions, green or white, will be futile, if a vast majority of Indian kids are unable to find a nutritious meal. Dichotomy is good, irony is certainly not.
