Inadequate Storage Facilities Leads To $6.8 Billion Worth of Food Waste

About $6.8 billion worth of food goes to waste every year in India because of inadequate storage facilities, according to FOX News.
Agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, said on Friday, that large amounts of food grains, fruits and vegetables are being thrown away. The total wastage of cereals, fruits and vegetables adds up to 440 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) a year. 
The country's storage requirement was 61.3 million tons against the current capacity of around 29 million tons, a report commissioned last year.
"The present gap is around 32 million tons," said Pawar, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
During the agricultural year of 2012-2013, food grain production was estimated to have reached a record of 255.4 million tons. According to FOX News, analysts said the government does not have the warehousing facilities to store that amount produce.
Officials are looking into varies steps to encourage the formation of a new storage capacity. According to FOX News, a new storage capacity is in works as Congress starts a massive new food program to feed to the poor and lower income families. 
The Food Security law, which the government is attempting to steer through parliament, will offer subsidized grains to nearly 70 percent of the population, or more than 800 million people.
Cold storage facilities, or refrigerated warehouses, are particularly lacking in India. Pawar said foreign investment in India's retail sector would help in developing back-end cold storage infrastructure in the country.
According to FOX News, nearly two-thirds of India's 1.2 billion population still depends on agriculture for their livelihood. The government is considered the country's biggest purchaser of produce through its centralized procurement system.
Prime Minister Manmohan said despite the fast economic growth India has received through the years, the country still struggles with endemic malnutrition which affects more than 40 percent of children. Manmohan described the situation as a "national shame."
FOX News reported Singh's government allowed foreign supermarkets to establish 51 percent joint ventures in the country in September last year, and this month rules were relaxed further to encourage investment.

India approves food bill to subsidise grain for the poor

Under the plan, the government will sell subsidised wheat and rice to more than two-thirds of its 1.2 billion population.
India is home to a quarter of the world's hungry, according to United Nations data, despite being one of the biggest food producers and experiencing years of rapid economic growth.
Jason Burke

Poverty in Africa

Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money

  

Absolute poverty or destitution refers to the deprivation of basic human needs, which commonly includes food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, health care and education.

Relative poverty is defined contextually as economic inequality in the location or society in which people live

A report published in 2013 by the World Bank, with support from the Climate & Development Knowledge Network, found that climate change was likely to hinder future attempts to reduce poverty. The report presented the likely impacts of present day, 2°C and 4°C warming on agricultural production, water resources, coastal ecosystems and cities across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia.

Poverty reduction is a major goal and issue for many international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank. The World Bank estimated 1.29 billion people were living in absolute poverty in 2008. Of these, about 400 million people in absolute poverty lived in India and 173 million people in China. In terms of percentage of regional populations, sub-Saharan Africa at 47% had the highest incidence rate of absolute poverty in 2008. Between 1990 and 2010, about 663 million people moved above the absolute poverty level. Still, extreme poverty is a global challenge; it is observed in all parts of the world, including the developed economies

Rises in the costs of living making poor people less able to afford items. Poor people spend a greater portion of their budgets on food than richer people. As a result, poor households and those near the poverty threshold can be particularly vulnerable to increases in food prices. For example, in late 2007 increases in the price of grains led to food riots in some countries. The World Bank warned that 100 million people were at risk of sinking deeper into poverty. Threats to the supply of food may also be caused by drought and the water crisis. Intensive farming often leads to a vicious cycle of exhaustion of soil fertility and decline of agricultural yields. Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. In Africa, if current trends of soil degradation continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to United Nations University's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa. Every year nearly 11 million children living in poverty die before their fifth birthday. 1.02 billion people go to bed hungry every night.

What is your say on Poverty?

Do you think it can be eradicated in Africa ? 

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

Developments in rural areas across the world: An initiative against food speculation

Developments in rural areas across the world: An initiative against food speculation: After my master studies, I was considered a bit as a looser, i was not going to a very prestigious university and was going to work on agric...

What kind of Africa would you want to see tomorrow?

I personally will want an Africa where a child with no home can smile with hope; I want an Africa where children do not get to sleep hungry, an Africa where the impoverished could have a good meal.

We can create this Africa if we work together, little efforts sums great work.

How do you want your Africa to be?

Let’s help change Africa, Let’s provide a Solution for Africa.