October 16 saw the World Food Day passing without much hype or hoopla associated with such celebrations. Probably, the world has no time for the hungry millions. World Food Day is celebrated to commemorate the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of United Nations in the year 1945. It is celebrated in more than 150 countries to  promote worldwide awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure food security and nutritious diets for all. Or is it so? According to FAO, there are 820 million hungry stomachs in the world and the remaining people waste one third of the total global food production annually. FAO has now set an unachievable target of eliminating hunger by 2030 called “Zero Hunger.” 

The goal is to re-mobilize public opinion not only to fight hunger in the world but also to eradicate it permanently and ensure a sustainable future for all. But by FAO’s own admission, for the third year in a row, there has been a rise in world hunger.  The absolute number of undernourished people, i.e. those facing “chronic food deprivation” has increased to nearly 821 million in 2017, from around 804 million in 2016. These are levels from almost a decade ago. And 155 million children are chronically malnourished. However, achieving the Zero Hunger target seems to be a far cry when people in the developed countries waste food.

Estimates say that approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food gets wasted which amounts to roughly US$ 680 billion in industrialized countries and US$ 310 billion in developing countries. Industrialized and developing countries dissipate roughly the same quantities of food — respectively 670 and 630 million tonnes.  Every year, consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food (222 million tonnes) as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes). Per capita waste by consumers is between 95-115 kg a year in Europe and North America, while consumers in sub-Saharan Africa, south and south-eastern Asia, each throw away only 6-11 kg a year. What we need is a concerted global approach to stop wastage of food which can then be provided to the world’s hungry millions.