Why you should not waste food

There is enough food in this world to feed every single being but according to The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization around 795 million people of the world’s population, or one in nine, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2014-2016. In developing countries one out of six children which accounts to roughly 100 million is underweight. The vast majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished. Asia is the continent with the most number of hungry people - two third of the total. The percentage in southern Asia has fallen in recent years but in western Asia it has increased slightly. One in four of the world's children are stunted. 66 million primary school age children attending classes are hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone. In Sub-Saharan Africa region there is highest number of population with undernourishment which accounts to one in four.


Wasting of food has become a very common activity among the people who are getting plenty of food very easily. We think we have money so we won’t face scarcity of food but if we waste food like what we are doing now then it will affect us indirectly.
For example - Wasted food goes to landfills, then these vast landfills becomes the source of greenhouse gases and pollutes the city. So indirectly we ourselves and our beloved ones are getting affected by it.
There are millions of people who are facing poverty ridden life not by choice but by fate, from which many of them involve in crimes and violence when they don’t get food. This affects our society very badly. So, instead of throwing leftover into dustbin, we can atleast try collecting it and give it to the poor or give it to any organization that feeds the poor. This small activity by us can lead to minimizing of such crimes and violence.

Before wasting a single grain seed just think about the effort and the time a farmer puts in cultivating the crops. It takes several months and farmers invest a lot of hard work no matter what the day is like. A farmer works on a sunny day sweating and dehydrating, a farmer works on a cold freezing day putting all his efforts, a farmer works on a rainy day drenched heavy and sick.

Let’s mull into how cultivation is done and how much hardship is needed to grow crops.
First of all farmers till and plough the soil properly. Sometimes the soil is very dry and hard so it is needed to be watered before ploughing. Sometimes the ploughed field may have big pieces of soil called crumbs which is needed to be broken and then the field is levelled. Then farmers select good quality seeds for sowing. In some cases the seeds is needed to be pre-treated before sowing. Pre-treatments include seed scarification, stratification, seed soaking or seed cleaning with water. After sowing is done farmers then put manure and fertilizers to support healthy growing of the crops. Then the farmers irrigate the soil so that the seeds germinate. The nutrients after dissolving in water gets transported to each part of the plant. Plant contains 90% of water so irrigation is must for proper growth. For irrigation, farmers put a lot of effort transferring water from source to the fields. Now the unwanted plants called weed is to be removed to protect the healthy growth of crops. Tilling kills weeds in the starting itself but the weeds which are left are manually removed which takes time and effort. Some farmers use weedicides to kill the weeds. After 3 to 4 months the crops mature and now harvesting comes into role. After harvesting, the grain seeds needs to be separated from chaff (threshing). Then the produce needs to be stored in a place where it is safe from insects, rats, moisture and microbes. Then the produce is transferred to markets and finally people get food after this long and tiring process.

So before wasting food just think that you are wasting something which took so much time and effort to get produced. Put yourself in a situation where you yourself are cultivating crops. Consider yourself working hard in a sunny day or a rainy day or a freezing cold day because that’s what farmers do, right? Now think, will you waste even a single grain seed if you have put so much time and effort in producing it? No, right?

I will give you very simple ways which can help you not waste food -
1. Don’t overstuff your plate when you know that you’re going to finish only half.
   “Take what you need and use what you take”
2. Don’t fall for discounts at the store. It leads to unnecessary buying of items which finally goes
    into the dustbin.
3. Try to use the leftover of the dinner by simply heating it or if possible creating a new recipe
    out of it.
4. Finish using the things which you bought earlier and then jump on to the recent buys.
   “First in, first out”
5. See what is already there in the refrigerator and plan your shopping.
6. Don’t just go for the looks, there are fruits available at farmer’s market and grocery store that
   looks a little odd but are absolutely good to eat. If not bought these fruits might otherwise get
   tossed.
7. When you know you are not going to use certain items, donate them.
8. It may sound little awkward to some people but educate people and give them tips.