The scarcity of food is not the cause of world hunger but the poor management of it which causes wastage. A UN report has revealed that one billion tonnes of food are wasted across the world each year.
There is enough food produced worldwide to feed the human population but the gap in supply is caused by waste and poor management. It is one-third of all food produced globally, said United Nations Environment Programme's Food Waste Index Report 2021.
The food supply chain is not doing justice to farming and land use. According to the report, around 14% of the food is lost between harvest and retail. Another 17% is gone between retail and consumption. Due to the poorly managed system, 811 million people are starving.
The UNEP suggested that a food system reform is critical to tackling several crises including climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, pollution, and waste. Global food waste is a big factor when it comes to the production of greenhouse gases. Food processing, packaging, waste, and transportation are pushing the food supply chain to the top causes of GHG by making up 8-10% of emissions.
UN officials said that only a few nations are on track to halve food waste by 2030 even though every nation made the pledge in 2015. Rosa Rolle, the team leader for food loss and waste at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, said that the world is nowhere close to reaching that goal.