The world wasted more than 1 billion metric tons of food in 2022 – Report

Amid global food insecurity, as 783 million people in the world face hunger, more than one billion metric tons of food goes wasted in 2022.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Report 2024 says in 2022, global food waste reached 1.05 billion metric tons, yet only nine of 193 countries included food waste in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) on climate change actions.

Meanwhile the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Report for 2023 says as many as 783 million people are facing hunger globally.

The SDG report says in 2021, 13.2 per cent of food produced globally was lost after harvest and during transport, storage, wholesale and processing.

It adds that an alarming 19 per cent of all food at the retail or consumption stage was wasted in 2022, totalling 1.05 billion metric tons of all food available to consumers.

The report further notes that most food waste occurred in households (60 per cent); and each person wasted an average of 79 kilograms annually, more than the weight of the average person.

“Globally, an estimated one billion meals of edible food are wasted every day, equivalent to 1.3 meals per person impacted by hunger per day, considering that 783 million people faced hunger in 2022,” it said.

Citing data, the report said household food waste varies by just 7 kilograms per capita each year across high-income, upper-middle-income and lower- middle-income countries. Hotter countries tend to have higher waste per capita, possibly due to increased consumption of fresh food with substantial inedible parts and inadequate refrigeration. Further, each year, food loss and waste generate 8 to 10 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, costing over $1 trillion and straining land resources and biodiversity, it said.

“At the same time, as of 2022, only 9 of 193 countries had included food waste in their NDCs, revealing a significant gap in connecting this issue with climate action and the objective of halving food waste and reducing losses by 2030,” the report added.

By Emmanuel K Dogbevi

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