Waste in food chain hurting environment, experts say
Residues of fruits and vegetables near a market in Kampala. Nema has warned that if the food chain is not adequately managed to avoid waste, food production may soon dwindle. PHOTO BY FAISWAL KASIRYE.
What you need to know:
Concern. Environmental experts say this food loss is a major driving factor to the rapid loss in natural resources, including water, nutrients, land and labour.
KAMPALA
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that it takes about 1,000 litres of water to produce one litre of milk.
And that if that milk goes to waste, all the litres of water and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock used in its production will be in vain. Now environmental experts say this food loss is a major driving factor to the rapid loss in natural resources, including water, nutrients, land and labour and are unnecessarily contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.
The National Environment Management Authority (Nema) has warned that if the food chain is not adequately managed to avoid waste, food production may soon dwindle. “Food waste is an enormous drain on natural resources and a contributor to negative environmental impacts. If food is wasted, it means that all the resources and inputs used in the production of all the food are also lost,” says Ms Naomi Karekaho, the Nema public relations officer.
It is estimated that on average, a Ugandan generates 0.56kg of waste per day, 83.6 per cent vegetables or organic matter; 10.9 percent waste paper and 1.2 per cent waste plastics among other materials according to a study published in the Science Journal of Environmental Engineering Research.
Ms Karekaho said the food loss starts right from poor farming practices and land use like over grazing, over cultivation, use of polythene bags and dumping them in the soil, to poor storage methods and poor planning and over consumption by certain individuals.
“In Uganda there is an illusion that our soil is fertile but things cannot stay the same with a growing population. A sustainable future starts by conserving the environment. We need to think of irrigation, hydroponics, growing high yield crops like the genetically modified crops, use fertilisers, zero grazing and fish farming if we are to conserve our environment,” Ms Karekaho said.
This year’s World Environment Day theme is “Think, eat, save”, a theme which aims to reduce food loss along the entire chain of food production and consumption. FAO estimates that more than 30 per cent of the food produced around the world for human consumption every year--approximately 1.3 billion tonnes--gets lost or wasted-- an amount equal to food produced in Sub-Saharan Africa a year.
Fruits, vegetables, roots and tubers have the highest wastage rates of any food. According to Mr Richard Kimbowa, the regional coordinator for the Lake Victoria Environment Management Project (LVEMP II) Civil Society Watch Project, this theme raises critical issues considering that Lake Victoria region communities are facing a spiraling trend in food insecurity as a result of recurrent unpredictable droughts, crop failures and environmental degradation.
