On average Bangladeshi wastes 65kg of food each year, much higher than what a person wastes in rich countries. The Food Waste Index Report 2021 showed that every year 10.62 million tonnes of food are wasted by households in Bangladesh. When millions of people are still live below the poverty line and nutritious food intake poses a great challenge in rural and urban areas, reducing food waste should get priority. The UN research estimated that 931 million tonnes of food or 17% of total food available to consumers worldwide were wasted in 2019. Reversing this trend would preserve enough food to feed 2 billion people that’s more than twice the number of undernourished people across the globe.
Homes are responsible for most of the food waste as 61% of total food waste was generated from households, while 26% was from food services and 13% from retails. Household per capita food waste generation is found to be broadly similar across country income groups, suggesting that action on food waste is equally relevant in high, upper-middle and lower-middle-income countries. Indian households waste 50kg of food per person per year, which is the least among South Asian countries, followed by Bangladesh. When food is wasted, all the resources associated with its production – water, land, energy, labour and capital – are also wasted. Moreover, the disposing of waste in landfills causes greenhouse gas emissions.
Poor storage facilities in farms lead to pest infestations and mould ruining crops. Lack of access to technology and markets means many farmers are forced to watch their crops rot in fields as the labour and financial investment required to harvest them is often unavailable. Reducing food waste would cut greenhouse gas emissions, slow the destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution, enhance the availability of food and thus reduce hunger and save money at a time of global recession. In the country, food is mainly wasted at marriage functions or restaurants. We also see post-harvest wastages of fresh vegetables and fruits during transportation and storage. The Agriculture Ministry should establish cold storage or vernacular cooler system at union level to preserve fresh vegetables and initiate a social movement to stop food waste everywhere.
