FOOD FOR THOUGHT

" There is enough food for everyone but not everyone has enough food "

- ' Enough Food for Everyone If ' campaign

VULTURE STALKING A CHILD

sourse: https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/vulture-stalking-a-child/

 We are all aware of the above appalling photo from 1993 famines of Sudan.How far have we come in these last 2 decades? Hunger still remains one of the major causes of death in the world. The Lancet, an internationally renowned journal published a paper stating that more than 3 million children died of malnutrition in year 2011.* Following are some interesting facts that I want to bring attention to: 

• Every 10 seconds a child dies of hunger. 
• One out of six children in developing countries is underweight. i.e. approximately 100 million children.
• 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world with 23 million in Africa alone. World Food Programme calculates that US$ 3.2 billion is required to reach these school children.
• One in nine people do not get enough food to lead an active life. i.e. approximately 800 million people in the world.
• In Sub-Saharan Africa one person in four is undernourished. 
• If women farmers had similar access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million. 

Above facts are gathered from various publications and articles by NGOs between 2011 to 2015.**

In 2016,the challenge is not shortage of food but to

 make it consistently available to the people who need it.  

  To put things in perspective in a developed country like Australia, 20% of food purchased is thrown away. An average Australian household bin consists of up to 40% of food wastage. This amounts to roughly AU$ 8 billion wastage of food annually in Australia. Out of these AU$ 8 billion, 2.67 billion is from fresh food & 2.18 from left over food and other type of waste. About AU$ 4.85 billion annual wastage just from fresh food and leftovers is a staggering number!

 This is not just loss of revenue but has environmental repercussions as well. Australia wastes 4,000,000 tonnes of food each year. This results to filling 450,000 garbage trucks. The amount of landfill that needs to be done is unspeakable. We all are aware of the environmental effects of landfills. Throwing away food also means wastage of resources like water and fuel required to get food from the farms to the plate. 

 There are developing countries like India and China which produce plenty of food wastage as well. In this post, I want to focus on Australia  as it is considered a developed country that can utilise its resources well and tackle the gravity of the situation. AU$ 4.85 billion mentioned earlier can be put towards the right cause by educating the people about the impact of food wastage and the need to protect the environment by reducing wastage.  

 After my research online, I stumbled upon articles. In some of my research, I came across articles which stated that restaurants have started charging customers for leaving food on plates. This is especially in restaurants, which offer buffets. There have been instances when food is prepared for large number of people and bulk of it goes to waste. Also a lot of restaurants throw away their food at the end of the day. A NGO called 'Robin Hood Army' in India has been working towards collecting left over food from such restaurants and big gatherings. The left over food is then distributed to the needy. In my personal experience too I have seen colleagues, friends, my ex - restaurant employer throwing away food. My humble request to them has always been to re-use, redistribute to the ones who need it. 

" Food redistribution is one of the best win-win solutions for avoiding food wastage. Food companies can often save money by donating food rather than paying the £80 or so per tonne in landfill tax and disposal costs."  - Trsitam Stuart ( UK based food waste campaigner)

I strongly believe, though the money one spends on food is their own but the resources belong to the society. If everyone does their bit in their day-to-day life, we can create a revolution and make the world a better place to live in. If the resources are put to the right use, we will be able to avoid the unforeseen doomsday. The idea is twofold, provide food for the needy and protect the environment by protecting and judiciously spending the resources. 

References:
* http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22935692 

**https://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats
Source for Australian stats : http://www.lunchalot.com/foodwaste.php