Food wastage is the key reason behind poverty and hunger. Solution lies in a profound change of heart and mind

Food wastage is the key reason behind poverty and hunger                                          Solution lies in a profound change of heart and mind

How often you all go to buffet meals at restaurants alone or with your family and friends?  We normally look for buffet meals that offer more for our money. We feel the need to indulge in a little bit everything at the buffet table. And for the dishes we like the most, we serve large portions on our plate. The desire to put endless meals on our plate and eat all you can leads to food wastage all over the world. 

I am convinced that wastage of food is one of the main causes behind global hunger and poverty. According to a report from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), globally one-third of the food produced is wasted, putting an estimate of the cost to world economy about US$750 billion. I just cannot imagine that all countries on this earth combined can produce enough food to feed the entire population of 7 billion people, yet, one out of every eight person on earth go to bed hungry each night. And according to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day, due to poverty and hunger.

Food waste management has now become a global issue and many countries are taking steps to reduce the waste. In addition to wastage at home, due to poor practices of harvesting, storing and transporting produce to the market, major portion of the food produced never reaches those who need it. Take for example, in India, where millions go hungry each day, according to the United Nations Development Program up to 40% of the food produced in India is wasted. According to FAO, India and China are the worst culprits of food wastage. Remember, the loss is more pronounced in developing countries as more people go to sleep with empty stomachs. 

Well, not only in India, the food wastage is a norm around the world. The FAO estimates that about a third (1.3 billion tons) of all food produced for human consumption goes to waste each year. Let's put a dollar value for this waste. A study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in their efforts to put a monetary value of our food waste estimates that US$166 billion worth of food---or about $544 per person are thrown out in a year. This is more than the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tons)

I did not realize this earlier. The consequences of all the food wasted by me and you go far beyond the burden of individual households - water, fertilizer, labor, electricity and the land that go into producing the food are also wasted. Food wastage affects the entire economy of a country. So, reducing the food wastage at home, in the country and throughout the world would help us address the hunger and poverty facing millions of people across the globe.

Food wastage is crime. How can we simply allow nearly one-third of the food produced to go waste because of certain inappropriate practices and left over food at the table, when millions go to bed hungry each night.

I remember Abdu'l-Baha, the appointed successor and the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the Prophet, Founder of the Baha’i Faith said,  "where we see poverty allowed to reach a condition of starvation, it is a sure sign that somewhere we shall find tyranny". The Baha'i Writings address many social problems in the context of justice. A just society is one that recognizes the extreme of poverty and hunger as not merely an economic issue, but a social one. Justice harnesses the extremes of poverty and starvation through an ethical framework that synergizes law, economic redistribution, and equality in order to eradicate corruption that often provokes malnutrition. 

A satisfactory solution to the world's present economic crisis lies in a profound change of heart and mind which only religion can produce. From the Bahá'í Faith perspective, the prevailing materialistic assumptions about economic development reflect a profound error of conception about human nature itself. The Baha’i Writings promote a future state of society where love outweighs materialism; where selfless concern for others trumps individual selfishness; where we treat all humanity with the same care and consideration we give to the members of our own family.  

If we believe that we are all one family – a human family that extends to every person on earth. Then we should be able to solve the problem of hunger and poverty and all children on earth can go to bed not hungry.  

I want to end this note by remembering a quote by Abdu’l Baha. “Is it possible for one member of a family to be subjected to the utmost misery and to abject poverty and for the rest of the family to be comfortable? It is impossible unless those members of the family be senseless, atrophied, inhospitable, unkind. Then they would say, “Though these members do belong to our family — let them alone. Let us look after ourselves. Let them die. So long as I am comfortable, I am honored, I am happy — this my brother — let him die. If he be in misery let him remain in misery, so long as I am comfortable. If he is hungry let him remain so; I am satisfied. If he is without clothes, so long as I am clothed, let him remain as he is. If he is shelterless, homeless, so long as I have a home, let him remain in the wilderness.” Such utter indifference in the human family is due to lack of control, to lack of a working law, to lack of kindness in its midst. If kindness had been shown to the members of this family surely all the members thereof would have enjoyed comfort and happiness.” (Foundation of World Unity. pp. 38-39)