Wastage of food

This refers to the story “Half of World food goes waste” (Jan. 11). A new study finds that up to half of the world’s food is discarded without being eaten. It is happening in a world where the divide between the poor and the rich is growing wider every day.
According to the conducted by the London-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1.2 to 2 billion tons of food are wasted worldwide each year out of about four billion metric tons of food produced. In developed countries, the wastage takes place at retailers’ and consumers’ levels while in the developing countries most wastage are due to inefficient handling and poor storage facilities.
The report revealed that in Southeast Asian countries, losses of rice range from 37 to 80 percent of their entire production, totaling wastage of about 180 million tons per year. Many developing countries have given priority to investment to improve infrastructure. In poor countries, wastage of food grain during harvesting, transportation and storage is also high.
In order to contain food wastage, the developing countries government should also increase investment in infrastructure development for proper storage of food grains and other agricultural produces.
The developed countries in Europe and America should preserve the food grains for feeding the world population particularly in the poor developing countries, instead of rejecting food grains and other agricultural products.
At retailer and consumer levels, producers must use the “best before date” labels. - Naser Mullah, Riyadh