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As the world marks international day of awareness of food loss and waste, government at various levels and well-to-do individuals have been charged to develop technologies that will curb food wastages.
A lecturer in the department of agricultural extension and rural development, University of Ilorin, Dr. Kareem Waheed gave the advice in an exclusive interview with correspondent Lanre Omotoso in Ilorin.
Dr. Waheed said over One Billion tones of food which could feed half of the world population got wasted annually through food value chains, hence the need to develop miniature technologies.
The University lecturer identified value chains through which food got wasted to include production by farmers, processing, transportation and consumption.
While noting that food losses lead to hunger and hike in price of food, Dr. Waheed called on government at various levels to always mop-up excesses from farmers during harvest to be processed and stored against off season period.
The agriculturist explained that developed countries mop-up excesses of farm produce from farmers during harvest to be sold to the general public during off season to mitigate hunger.
Dr. Waheed emphasized that when food is lost or wasted, all resources used to produce it including water, land, energy, labour and capital go to waste, stressing that disposal of food loss in landfills leads to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change.
United Nations in 2019 designated September Twenty-Nine as International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste to reduce price of foodstuffs and eradicate hunger worldwide.
