24% of global food calories lost and wasted plus more details
FROM WRI STUDY Reducing Food Loss and Waste Paraphrase: 24% of all calories in food worldwide are lost and wasted (together called wastage. Loss refers to stages of production transport etc) and waste refers to what is discarded, due negligence or conscious decision), p1 if cut by half by 2050 (i.e. by 12%) could cover 22 % all the additional food we need to produce based on 9 billion projection. "Cereals comprise the largest share of global food loss and waste by caloric content -- 53%." p.6 [[FML: Seems to contradict Food Balance Sheets of FAO that show small share of cereal waste for 2009]] ,,,"about 56% of total food loss and waste occurs in the developed world..." p. 7 BY STAGES: p.7 24% production 24% handling and storage 35% consumption ...[in] "North America and Oceania...loss and waste is approximately 42 percent of all available food..." p. 8 [..."costs an average of $1,600 per year for a family of four in the United States...". p. 8] post-harvest losses in S-S Africa=$4B/year p. 8 24% of all water used in ----------------------------------------------- FROM Global Food, Waste Not, Want Not: .."we produce about four billion metric tonnes of food per annum." p. 2 [there are 7.1 billion people and 2200 lbs in a metric tonne. Divide 4 billion mt by 7.1 billion (world population) = .56 metric tonnes .56 x 2,200 lbs = 1,232 per year; divided by 365 days = 3.4 pounds/person/day] [FML notes that Bangladesh is considered one of countries with highest per cap rice consumption at 70 kg per person, or 375 pounds, per year, slightly over one pound a day, or over 6 cups of cooked rice/day.] China: "rice loss figure is about 45%." "...Vietnam, rice losses between field and table can amount to 80% of production..." p. 2 .. retailers reject crops at the farm because they "do not meet exacting marketing standards for their physical characteristics, such as size and appearance." [in this way] "Globally retailers generate 1.6 million tonnes of food waste annually in this way." p. 3 in developed countries "between 30% and 50% of what has been bought in developed countries is thrown away by the purchaser." p. 3 "Approximately a fifth to a third of all food loss and waste in developing regions occurs at the handling s and storage stage--commonly called postharvest losses. .... only 5 percent of agricultural research investment focuses on postharvest issues while 95 percent of funds focus on increasing crop production." p. 29 SOLUTIONS The UK, between 07 - 2010, (just over 3 years) cut annual food waste by 13%... Led by WRAP, an ngo. cost one pound spent saved 100 pounds worth of food. p. 30 (also see www.wrap.org) WATER. ..."beef [production] uses about 50 times more water than vegetables." p. 5 ENERGY "applications of agrochemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides represents the biggest single component [of energy usage in food production] ... 50% of energy input [in wheat production] p.5 GENERAL: "50% of available, appropriate [agricultural] land is already appropriated." p.9 [but notes that much of the rest is needed ecosystems--that i assume means forests - not sure etc] FROM FAO INTERNAL DOCUMENT Food Wastage Footprint sent to FML by Nadia Scialabba at FAO: “Without accounting for GHG emissions from land use change, the carbon footprint of food produced and not eaten is estimated at 3.3 Gtonnes of CO2 equivalent. As such, food wastage ranks as the third top GHG emitter after USA and China. “ p3 “The direct economic cost of wastage of agricultural food products (excluding fish and seafood), based on producer prices only, is about USD 750 billion, equivalent to the GDP of Switzerland. “ P3
Source: Brian Lipinski et al., Reducing Food Loss and Waste, World Resources Institute, Working Paper 2013 Tim Fox & Ceng Fimeche, Global Food, Waste Not, Want Not, Instituion of Mechanical Engineers, 2013. NRD Internal Document Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on natural resources Technical Report The Food Wastage Footprint model (FWF) is a project of the FAO Natural Resources and Management Department, funded by Germany 2013 Queries related to the FWF project can be addressed to: Nadia.Scialabba@fao.org [verified 4/15/14]