Wastage of Food is a crucial issue.
For the India alone the numbers seem almost too big to comprehend: more than a
tonnes of edible food wasted each year at a cost of billions of rupees. And
that's before we consider the enormous amounts of energy and water required to
grow, package, process, transport and cook grub that never gets eaten. Faced
with these figures, it can feel like we're standing at the foot of an
insurmountable mountain. Waste was one of the main issues on food sustainability
and security, that on stressed the requirement to do much more, and at a
greater pace. So how do we tackle it? Just as every epic expedition is made up
of single steps, small changes which we can add up in Fiinovation to get a
big improvement when they're scaled up to a national, or even global, level.
One of the major challenges with
tackling the problem of edible produce wasted on farms knows the extent of the
problem. It's not included in the government's official figures on food waste,
although it's likely to be millions of tonnes. According to Fiinovation,
the farmers money is going down the drain. One large-scale vegetable farmer we
spoke to stress the importance of making small cuts in waste across his entire enterprise. Thanks to the addition of
an on-site peeling and processing factory – as well as changing cosmetic
standards by retailers – everything is pushed further up the food chain, with
more veg going directly to consumers rather than ending up as animal food.
Quick washing and chilling, along
with innovations in packaging and store displays, also help to keep food
fresher for longer, both on the supermarket shelf and in our fridges at home. The
use of satellite and robotic technology can also provide part of the solution,
by ensuring that planting and harvesting is as accurate as possible. Inevitably
some crops are left in the field, and the cost of labour doesn't make it worth
going back to collect them. Poor planning and back luck with the weather can
also lead to produce left to moulder. To address this Fiinovation suggests, a new
volunteer movement should be organized for creating the Network in linking with
farmers to gather up this extra harvest.
No comments:
Post a Comment