Tackling Food Loss and Waste: India’s Opportunity

Why in news?

On the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (29 September), FAO highlighted India’s opportunity to cut losses.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims 

Mains GS-III: Food processing and related industries (scope, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management); storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce; food security; conservation and environmental pollution; climate change.

Food Loss and Waste 

• Food loss: food that is lost from harvest up to, but not including, the retail stage — on the farm, in storage, transport, processing and wholesale markets (FAO definition).
• Food waste: food discarded at the retail, food service (hotels, restaurants) and household levels.
• SDG Target 12.3: halve per capita global food waste at retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains by 2030. Progress is tracked through the Food Loss Index (FAO, indicator 12.3.1a) and the Food Waste Index (UNEP, indicator 12.3.1b).
• International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste: designated by the UN General Assembly in 2019 and observed annually on 29 September; FAO and UNEP lead its observance.
• The paradox in India: India produces enough to feed its population of 1.4 billion, yet a significant share of its produce is lost across the value chain.
• The triple win: tackling food loss and waste can (i) strengthen food security and nutrition, (ii) reduce pressure on natural resources and emissions, and (iii) improve incomes and productivity.

India’s Evidence Base: A Global First

• Three national surveys: India is the only country to have conducted three national post-harvest loss surveys.
• Coverage: the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) assessed losses across 45, 45 and 54 commodities in 2005-07, 2012-14 and 2020-22 respectively, covering the supply chain from farm to retail. A fourth round is now under way.
• Scale of loss: the 2020-22 study (conducted by NABCONS) put the value of post-harvest losses at about ₹1.53 lakh crore a year, with perishables worst hit — roughly 6–15% for fruits and 5–12% for vegetables, against about 4–6% for cereals.
• SDG reporting: this sustained effort supports India’s reporting of the Food Loss Index under the SDGs.
• The gap: these estimates mainly cover losses on the farm and in the supply chain. Data on food waste in retail, hotels and restaurants, and households remain far less developed.

Why Food Loss and Waste Matter

• Food security and nutrition: losses are highest in perishables such as fruits, vegetables, milk and fish, which are exactly the foods needed to fight micronutrient deficiencies.
• Resources: when food is lost, so are the land, water, fertiliser, energy and labour used to produce it.
• Climate: organic waste rotting in landfills releases methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide over the short term. Globally, food loss and waste account for an estimated 8–10% of greenhouse gas emissions (UNEP).
• Farm incomes: every tonne lost after harvest is income the farmer has already invested in but never earns; distress sales follow when produce cannot be stored.
• Economy: losses raise food prices and inflation volatility (for example, the recurring price spikes of tomato, onion and potato).

What Can Reduce Them

• Post-harvest handling: the scope for cutting losses is greatest through better storage, drying, cooling, moisture management and processing.
• Digital tools: traceability systems can improve how food is moved and managed through the supply chain.
• Policy integration: food loss and waste must be built more systematically into agricultural planning, food-processing strategies, climate action and investment decisions.
• Targeted finance: direct finance to technologies and infrastructure where they have the greatest impact, while keeping solutions affordable for farmers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and small businesses.
• Circular approaches: surplus food can be redistributed, while unavoidable organic residues can be converted into compost, biogas or energy — reducing waste and creating economic value.
• FAO’s role: the FAO works with government, research and financial institutions across India’s agrifood systems — generating evidence, testing technologies and mobilising investment from farm to market to city.

Wholesale Markets: An Overlooked Opportunity

• Scale: assessments by the FAO and the National Council of State Agricultural Marketing Boards (COSAMB) found that major wholesale markets can generate up to 100 tonnes of organic waste a day.
• Landfill burden: in some cities, as much as one-fifth of all urban organic waste reaching landfills comes from these markets. Nationally, this adds up to about 3.5 million tonnes a year.
• A resource base, not a waste stream: if treated, this waste can offset about 3.3 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions a year — worth close to $30 million in carbon credits.
• Example — Surat: a 50-tonne-a-day bio-CNG plant in Surat, Gujarat, run through a private-sector partnership for over five years, reportedly cuts methane-related emissions by about 7,500 tonnes a year.
• Replication: such models can be adapted to local conditions, including the commodity mix and infrastructure of different markets. Municipalities and market committees can improve segregation, collection and treatment of organic waste and develop markets for compost, biogas and other recovered materials.

Investment and Innovation

• From projects to a national approach: India must move from isolated interventions to a connected national approach with financing at its core.
• FAO–SIDBI partnership: the FAO and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) are linking identified food-loss hotspots with climate-resilient technologies such as drying, moisture control, energy-efficient cooling and storage; SIDBI is arranging finance so that MSMEs can adopt them.
• Package of Practices for cities: the FAO is preparing a practical “Package of Practices” for urban food loss and waste management, giving municipalities tools to measure, prevent, reduce, redistribute and valorise waste across households, wholesale markets, retail and food service.

Government Initiatives

• PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (MoFPI): umbrella scheme for mega food parks, integrated cold chains and agro-processing clusters.
• Operation Greens: launched in 2018 to stabilise tomato, onion and potato (TOP) supply chains; later widened to other fruits and vegetables.
• Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (2020): a ₹1 lakh crore financing facility for post-harvest infrastructure such as warehouses, cold storage and pack-houses.
• Grain storage in the cooperative sector (2023): plan to create decentralised storage at the level of primary agricultural credit societies (PACS).
• SATAT and GOBARdhan: promote compressed biogas from organic and agricultural waste, supporting models like the Surat plant.
• Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0: promotes source segregation and processing of wet waste in cities.
• FSSAI’s Save Food Share Food: encourages the recovery and redistribution of surplus food from hotels, weddings and caterers.

Challenges

• Data gaps: reliable, regular data on retail, food service and household waste are lacking, so the scale of consumer-end waste is poorly understood.
• Fragmented supply chains: small landholdings, multiple intermediaries and weak first-mile infrastructure (pack-houses, pre-cooling) push losses up.
• Uneven cold chain: cold storage capacity is concentrated in a few states and dominated by potato; multi-commodity and reefer transport capacity is thin.
• Low processing: only a small share of fruits and vegetables is processed, leaving surpluses with few outlets.
• Weak municipal systems: poor segregation at source means mixed waste reaches landfills, making composting and biogas uneconomical.
• Affordability: technologies often remain out of reach for smallholders and small enterprises without targeted finance.
• Behaviour: large-scale waste at weddings, festivals, hostels and canteens reflects social norms that policy alone cannot change quickly.

Global Good Practices

• France (2016): law barring large supermarkets from destroying unsold edible food and requiring them to donate it.
• Italy (2016): the Gadda Law made food donation easier through incentives rather than penalties.
• South Korea: volume-based fees for household food waste have sharply raised recycling of food waste.

Way Ahead

• Close data gaps: extend national surveys to retail, food service and households, and report on the Food Waste Index alongside the Food Loss Index.
• Direct investment: channel finance to hotspot-specific solutions — drying, storage, energy-efficient cooling — with affordable credit through institutions such as SIDBI and NABARD.
• Strengthen FPOs: help producer groups invest in pack-houses, grading and primary processing near the farm gate.
• Wholesale markets as resource hubs: make organic-waste treatment standard in APMC markets, linked to bio-CNG, compost and carbon-credit markets.
• Empower cities: adopt FAO’s Package of Practices, enforce segregation at source and support redistribution networks.
• Mainstream the issue: make loss reduction part of agricultural, food-processing, urban and climate policy, including India’s climate commitments.
• Behaviour change: public campaigns, food-sharing platforms and norms against waste at large gatherings.

India now has the data, the technology and viable models to reduce food loss and waste. The priority is to close data gaps, direct investment and make loss reduction a core part of agricultural, food-processing, urban and climate policy — turning a persistent problem into a triple win.

Practice MCQ

Q1. Consider the following statements:

Statement I: Treating organic waste from wholesale markets can generate carbon credits.

Statement II: Organic waste decomposing in landfills releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

(a) Both statements are correct and Statement II explains Statement I

(b) Both statements are correct but Statement II does not explain Statement I

(c) Statement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect

(d) Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct

Answer: (a). Diverting organic waste from landfills to compost or bio-CNG avoids methane emissions, and these avoided emissions can be traded as carbon credits.

Mains Practice Question

Q. “Reducing food loss and waste offers India a triple win for food security, climate and farm incomes.” Discuss the extent and causes of food loss and waste in India and suggest a comprehensive strategy to address them. (250 words, 15 marks)