Every time you leave some food on your plate just because it does not taste good, know that you are contributing to the world hunger crisis. Yes, you read that right. Wastage of food is a huge contributor in the hunger crisis across the world. By the time you are done reading this sentence, chances are that a person has died of hunger somewhere in the world. Food equals life and wasting food means wasting the lives of millions who are starving.
Still don’t get the magnitude of this issue? Have a look at how much food the world wastes:
1. Australia: 690 kg per person annually
So many of these fruits aren’t even half eaten or rotten, just thrown away.
2. France: 510 kg per person annually
Vegetables that are still fresh and some even packed are thrown away. Why not give it to someone who can make a meal out of it?
3. Norway: 620 kg per person annually
This in the hands of a poor family would mean enough bread for at least a month.
4. Japan: 410 kg per person annually
Dumped! And just like that, it now belongs to no one.
5. Canada: 640 kg per person annually
Packed and ready to be thrown.
6. UK: 560 kg per person annually
There is enough here to feed an entire village. But no, why bother. If we can’t eat it, no one should.
7. Switzerland: 650 kg per person annually.
Left to rot.
8. Sweden: 450 kg per person annually
Take-out food just taken out.
10. USA: 760 kg per person annually
This is like a farm being hit by a cyclone. But this disaster is man made.
11. Denmark: 660 kg per person annually
A lavish meal ends with lavish wastage. Imagine someone who has not had food in days sitting on this table. It would make his day.
12. And the result of all this?
Scores of families and children have to settle for less food.
Some are forced to eat unhygienic food resulting in diseases and illnesses.
With so much food being wasted, half the world sleeps hungry. And eventually a part of the populous remains malnourished or starves to death.
The solution is simple.
But we don’t follow the solution. The world wastes around 1.3 billion tonnes of food. Rich countries waste almost around 222 million tonnes which is equal to the food production of the Sub-Saharan Africa (Imagine that!). The irony is that while half the people in the world waste food without bothering, the other half pray for two square meals a day.
This Independence Day, we have joined the Robin Hood Army and Uber to launch #Mission100k.
#Mission100k is a war which Indian and Pakistani students are fighting together against hunger. The campaign aims to unite students to rally together and serve food to 100,000 homeless countrymen on both sides of the border.
If you would like to play your role, here’s how you can do it: www.robinhoodarmy.com/mission100k/
There are 300 million hungry people in India and Pakistan; if you can’t feed them all – let’s start with one.