The UN food agency, Food and Agriculture Organisation, has launched an urgent appeal to reduce wasted food, saying 81 million people are hungry and malnourished.

On Tuesday, the FAO said 17 per cent of all food available to consumers in 2019 ended up thrown away. According to FAO, an additional 132 million people face food and nutrition insecurity today because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Muhammad Nanono, warned that the country might produce enough food to eat, but Nigerians would still sleep hungry because they did not have enough money to buy the food.

The International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste is marked on September 29.

The problem of food waste is a global one and not limited to wealthy nations alone, said Nancy Aburto, Deputy Director of FAO’s Food and Nutrition Division Economic and Social Development Stream, speaking at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

“Food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition are impacting every country in the world, and no country is unaffected; 811 million people suffer hunger, two billion suffer micronutrient deficiencies,” said Ms Aburto. “That’s vitamin and mineral deficiencies – and millions of children suffer stunting and wasting, deadly forms of under-nutrition.”

The FAO official warned that the high cost of “healthy” diets meant that they were now “out of reach” of every region in the world, including Europe.

She also stated that more countries needed to embrace innovation to reduce waste, such as new packaging that can prolong the shelf-life of many foods, while smartphone apps can bring consumers closer to producers, reducing the time between harvest and plate.

Reducing food loss and waste would improve agri-food systems and help achieve food security, food safety, and food quality, all while delivering on nutritional outcomes.

According to FAO, it would also contribute “significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as pressure on land and water resources.”

With less than nine years left to reach Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and target 12.3 to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels, there is an urgent need to accelerate action up to the 2030 deadline.

And with just three months to go, during this International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, FAO has reminded that produce provides human nutrition and food security while working to achieve the SDGs.

“In the current health crisis we are facing around the world, promoting healthy diets to strengthen our immune systems is especially appropriate,” said FAO chief QU Dongyu.

He also noted that food loss and waste in the fruits and vegetable sector remained a problem with considerable consequences.

Mr Dongyu also pointed out that “innovative technologies and approaches were of critical importance,” as they can help maintain safety and quality, “increasing the shelf life of fresh produce items and preserving their high nutritional value.”

(NAN)