A faint cry of a child calls – Can I have a bite please!

Can’t we people if can’t help somebody should not create a situation wherein we waste eatables like part of our luxurious life style. “The world is wasting enough rice this year to feed 184 million people, about a fifth of those who are undernourished, based on estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome. The amount lost between harvest and consumers globally totals at least 48 million tons, says Concepcion Calpe, a senior economist with the FAO. “

“Rats aren’t the only species responsible — humans also play a role. Lulled by low food prices since the 1970s, donor nations and lenders halved aid to agriculture in developing countries, the World Bank says. Corrupt leaders and bureaucrats siphoned off much of what did arrive, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. As a result, grain storage and processing remain primitive in many developing countries, which have the greatest losses and highest rates of hunger.” source – http://www.bloomberg.com/

The Stockholm International Water Institute, Food and Agriculture Organization of UN, International Water Management Institute; joint report says United States is wasting 483 Crore Dollar worth food items annually that means about 30% of the food items are just wasting away in this manner, this includes drinking water too.

This 30% food wastage is equal to 40 lakhs crores liters of water wasting out from the open taps. That means this quantity of water can be used by 50 Crores of people. The report further says, “Most of the consumers eat food in abundance, the food grains are just wasted away in the agriculture field itself before reaching to the godowns or to the consumers”. About 15-35% of the production is just left out at the agriculture fields. Another 10-15% wasted at the collection centers and the processing units. Water shortage is one of the major hindrances for the food production at global level. The report adds that 120 crores of people are living in the water scarcity areas. (read more…)

It feels like quite a shame for us the so called responsible citizens of this global village from the above little facts and figures I could gather in a little time. Now what we people can do -

1. First of all we should stop wasting food grains and eatables as it can save someone’s life.

2. Be magnanimous and come forward with ways to increase food grains yield and for sharing better food grains preservation techniques and methods.

3. And strictly keep these money hungry patent guys from govt. funds and schemes.

4. United Nation has a role to play to bring the R& D (of its members) outcomes on a single table and make big guys to think before the situation gets out of hand.

5. The last and important thing I will like to emphases on is we people should instead of just donating money for food and food to hungry people should also arm them with employable skills and opportunities to fend themselves, to make them part of the army of poverty fighters instead of a permanent tag holders of poverty stricken.

My this post is in response to the call given by Bloggers United and to the efforts of Heifer International who are working for the cause of humanity.