Food waste index report 2024
<p>The world wasted an estimated 19 per cent of the food produced globally in 2022, or about 1.05 billion metric tons, according to this new report by the UNEP.</p>
Food Supply
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13th finance panel gears up to strike ecology, development balance
While the Earth may have 10 more years before the effects of global warming begin to take place according to a recent report and climate change is being interlinked with the global food security crisis, the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC) headed by Vijay Kelkar is already looking at various measures for managing the ecology and climate change in consistence with sustainable development.
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CII to set up task force
In the wake of the rising food prices owing to a global shortage, the Confederation of India Industry (CII) has decided to set up a task force to chalk out steps to raise farm production, improve productivity and encourage private sector participation in food distribution. In a statement here on Sunday, the apex chamber noted that the rising food prices was a matter of concern and called for an immediate global response by way of a platform for dialogue and action to manage the crisis.
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FCI assures of quality foodgrains
The Food Corporation of India on Saturday dismissed allegations that it was supplying sub-standard wheat to consumers in the Capital. Addressing a press conference, FCI General Manager (Delhi Region) Asit Singh said: "We want to place on record that our role is limited to supplying good quality foodgrains to the Delhi Government after obtaining acceptance of quality and quantity certificate in each and every case from representatives of the administration.' Samples sealed
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Facing a global food crisis (Editorial)
The call by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for a top-level task force to address the issue of the spiraling cost of food worldwide is precisely the kind of co-ordinated global action that is necessary at this precarious moment in history, and could not have come at a better time. The secretary general's other suggestions, that the World Food Programme needs to be fully funded, that key producer nations should not ban exports, and that bio-fuels need to be reconsidered in light of the current crisis, are also all well taken.
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Bush seeks US Cong nod to $ 770 m food aid
US President George W. Bush has asked the Congress to approve $ 770 million as aid against the current global food crisis, even as he urged the countries to lift restrictions on agricultural exports. The proposed aid is in addition to the existing $ 200 million assistance that has already been provided by the US. "I am calling on the Congress to provide an additional $ 770 million to support food aid and development programmes. Together, this amounts to nearly $ one billion in new funds to bolster global food security,' Bush said, speaking at the White House yesterday.
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Endemic hunger in West Bengal
The problem of chronic hunger that afflicts around 10 million rural people in West Bengal has largely been ignored. What is the Left Front government doing to alleviate the situation? May 3-9, 2008
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Agflation and the Public Distribution System
The demand for "universalisation' of the public distribution system during a period of rising prices is not relevant since, more than four-fifths of households in rural areas and two-thirds in urban centres are already covered by it. Yet, a very small proportion of rural/urban households actually make purchases of either rice or wheat from the PDS; an insignificant amount of consumption is met by ration shop purchases. The pattern is somewhat better for below the poverty line households with ration cards.
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Fuel for thought
Within a couple of years of the global rush to promote biofuels new questions are being asked about the claimed benefits of these fuels and serious negative impacts are coming to light. It is in this regard that the focus of the biofuel policy in India has been towards utilising an "oil bearing' plant, jatropha carcus, for oil extraction, processing and eventual blending with diesel. The advantage of this plant lies in the fact that it can be grown on cultivable wasteland and requires very little fertiliser and other inputs as normally required in agriculture. (Editorial) May 3-9, 2008
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Food shortages and rising prices hit western Nepal
Poor communities in the hills and mountains of far and mid-western Nepal face a serious threat to food security due to this year's poor winter harvest, says a UN body. Along with bad crops resulting in a 20-40 percent fall in production, rising food prices in these areas where poverty and malnutrition are very high has triggered this painful situation, states the latest crop situation update prepared by the World Food Program-Nepal.
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Ensuring food security
In a recent perspective, "Food security under climate change" (1 February, P. 580), M.E. Brown and C.C. Funk conclude that improved seed, fertilizer, land use and governance lead to food security. I find these claims highly questionable. The green revolution model (monocultures of improved crops supported through high levels of agrochemical and other inputs) has done much to increase agricultural productivity. It does little, if anything, to increase food security. (Letters)