Southeast Asia wasting too much food

Friday, 12 October 2012 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

IRIN: As cities expand in Southeast Asia, more and more food is going to waste and governments are ill-prepared to stem the loss, according experts recently convened by the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies in Singapore.

“It is likely that the region wastes approximately 33 per cent of food, but accurate estimates are not available due to a dearth of quantitative information,” they said.

Regional food loss stemming from natural disasters and improper crop storage, packing and delivery will worsen as more goods travel farther. Urbanites are expected to outnumber rural residents here by 2028.

Governments need to better fund the tracking of food waste (especially fish, vegetables and rice). Possible solutions include redistributing edible wasted food to people, turning it into energy and agriculture inputs, and developing new technology to separate food waste from other rubbish. Policymakers need to take a “total supply chain approach” or else risk breaking Southeast Asia’s fragile food system, said the experts.