Context: Food loss and waste (FLW) threaten food security, nutrition, natural-resource efficiency, climate goals and farmer incomes despite India producing enough food for its 1.4 billion population.
- September 29, the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, highlights the need to reduce avoidable losses across the farm-to-consumer value chain.
- Reducing FLW can provide a “triple win”: strengthen food security and nutrition, reduce resource use and emissions, and improve productivity and incomes.
India’s Evidence Base: A Global First
- India is the only country to have conducted three national post-harvest loss surveys, covering 45 commodities in 2005–07, 45 in 2012–14 and 54 in 2020–22, from farm to retail.
- The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is undertaking a fourth survey, strengthening India’s evidence base for reporting the Food Loss Index (FLI) under the Sustainable Development Goals.
- However, existing national estimates focus mainly on farm and supply-chain losses, while systematic data on food waste in retail, hotels/restaurants and households remains limited.
Where Food Loss Occurs and How It Can Be Reduced
- Major opportunities lie in improving storage, drying, cooling, moisture management and food processing, particularly for perishable agricultural commodities.
- Digital traceability systems can improve monitoring, movement and management of food across supply chains while helping identify specific loss hotspots.
- FLW reduction should be integrated into agricultural planning, food-processing strategies, climate action and investment decisions, rather than treated as a standalone issue.
- Finance should target high-impact technologies and infrastructure while ensuring affordability for farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and small businesses.
Food Loss and Climate–Resource Nexus
- Food loss also wastes the land, water, energy, labour and other inputs used to produce, process and transport that food.
- Reducing losses can therefore simultaneously improve food availability, resource efficiency and climate outcomes, while enhancing agricultural productivity.
- Circular economy approaches can further create value by redistributing surplus food and converting unavoidable organic residues into compost, biogas or energy.
Wholesale Markets: An Overlooked Resource
- FAO and National Council of Agriculture Marketing Boards (COSAMB) assessments indicate that major wholesale markets can generate up to 100 tonnes of organic waste daily.
- Nationally, wholesale-market organic waste is estimated at about 3.5 million tonnes annually, while in some cities it constitutes nearly one-fifth of urban organic waste reaching landfills.
- Proper treatment could potentially avoid about 3.3 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually, with additional economic value through carbon credits.
- A 50-tonne/day bio-CNG plant in Surat, Gujarat, operated through a private-sector partnership for over five years, reportedly reduces methane-related emissions by around 7,500 tonnes annually.
- Such models can be adapted according to local commodity composition, market infrastructure and waste characteristics, alongside better segregation, collection and treatment by municipalities and market committees.
Investment, Technology and Institutional Partnerships
- India needs to move beyond isolated interventions towards an integrated national FLW strategy, with finance as a central enabler.
- FAO–SIDBI collaboration is linking identified food-loss hotspots with climate-resilient technologies such as drying, moisture control, energy-efficient cooling and storage, while facilitating finance for MSMEs.
- FAO is also developing a municipal “Package of Practices” for urban FLW management, covering measurement, prevention, reduction, redistribution and valorisation across households, wholesale markets, retail and food services.
Key Concepts for UPSC
- Food Loss: Reduction in the quantity or quality of food occurring mainly during production, post-harvest handling, storage, processing and distribution.
- Food Waste: Food discarded or otherwise removed from the food supply chain, particularly at retail, food-service and household stages.
- Food Loss Index (FLI): SDG indicator 12.3.1(a), focusing on food losses occurring along production and supply chains before retail.
- SDG 12.3: Calls for halving per-capita global food waste at retail and consumer levels and reducing food losses along production and supply chains by 2030.
- Valorisation: Converting waste or by-products into higher-value products, such as compost, biogas, bio-CNG or energy.
Way Forward
- Close data gaps on retail, food-service and household waste to complement India’s strong post-harvest loss database.
- Direct public and private finance towards cold chains, storage, processing, drying, moisture control and energy-efficient technologies.
- Establish integrated market-level segregation, collection and organic-waste treatment systems.
- Scale circular-economy models linking surplus food redistribution with compost, biogas and bio-CNG production.
- Mainstream FLW reduction into agriculture, food processing, urban governance, climate policy and investment planning.
