Food Wastage And Hunger On The Rise In Ghana

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64239_216257341887541_2074671091_nBy: Chefs For Change Ghana Foundation

Ghana may be home to one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, but a third of its population still survive on less than $1.25 a day. Many families struggle to put food on the table and as a result around one in every four Ghanaian children is malnourished.There are over 2 million mentally retarded people??living on the streets of Ghana without any source of food.

During weekends and holidays,the amount of food wasted rises by 25% as a result of people partying.

About 1.3 billion tonnes of food is lost and wasted globally every year, and one-third of all food produced, worth about US$1 trillion (Bt32 trillion), is lost or wasted in food production and consumption, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The amount of food lost and wasted each year is more than four times what would be needed to solve the world’s hunger crisis. Just a quarter of the food wasted is enough to feed the 870 million people.
Poor planning, lack of storage facilities, weak transportation systems, crop disease and parasites are the main causes of food being lost before it reaches consumers. And there is also a growing problem of waste on the part of supermarkets,hotels, restaurants and consumers. More and more food is being thrown away, and this trend seems to increase with greater urbanisation.

About 35 per cent of food is lost or wasted after harvest, “More effort is needed to raise global awareness of the critical issue of food losses and particularly post-harvest losses, as well as food waste, which is increasing,”Food waste is also a waste of energy and?natural resources, like land and water.971615_167305233449419_588397376_n

Recent statistics also??show that 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted around the world every year and over million children die every year from hunger. Over 30% of Ghanians do not have enough to eat and over 45% of food produced annually is wasted in Ghana.??Meanwhile Majority of Ghanaians have developed consumption lifestyles that they cook more food than they can eat and throw the left- over?s into dustbins. The wasted food, end up at?land-fills and turns into methane, a green-house gas that is 25 times more potent than the carbon dioxide (CO2) from vehicles? exhaust, which emits into the atmosphere and negatively impact on the environment. Reducing domestic food waste would bring down green-house gas that unnecessarily emits into the atmosphere and negatively impact on the environment. On national front a lot of foodstuffs are lost during bumper harvest due to inadequate storage facilities and poor transportation network.
The amount of food lost or wasted every year is equivalent to more than half of the world’s annual cereals crop (2.3 billion tonnes in 2009/2010).
labour and capital and needlessly produce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming and climate change.

With population increase,unemployment after school,poverty and economic hardships,by 2020 the effects of food wastage and hunger will be drastically felt globally.

Source:?Chefs For Change Ghana Foundation

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