Speakers at a discussion here on Wednesday stressed the need for reducing the food loss and waste in different stages as part of the stride to ensure food security as the annual household food waste in Bangladesh is 14.10 million metric tons.

They said a holistic or comprehensive strategy is required to reduce the food waste and ensure food security for the country’s growing population, which, in turn, can also help combat malnutrition across the country.“

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The Ministry of Agriculture arranged the discussion at the auditorium of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in the city, marking the World Food Day-2024.

This year the World Food Day is being celebrated under the theme 'Right to foods for a better life and a better future' throughout the world.

Addressing the event as the chief guest, Agriculture Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury described the food right as a basic right of people.“If we want to ensure food rights, our prime task would be to increase food production as per the (growing) demand,” he said.

He stressed the need for the proper supply of the produced foods to consumers, not wasting foods. It should ensure a balanced distribution of foods to reach those to consumers properly and reduce the food waste at the consumer end, he added.

Jahangir Alam said the food loss and waste is nearly one-third of the produced food in the world whereas one-tenth of people go to bed hungry every night. “That means 10 percent of people in the world can’t meet their minimum demand,” he said.

BARC principal scientific officer (Crops) Dr Md Harunur Rashid in his keynote paper said the total amount of global annual food loss and waste is 1550 million MT and the value of the foods is US$ 1190 billion .

“The annual household food waste is 14.10 million metric tons and the waste food per person is 82kg,” he said adding that the food loss and waste occurred in various stages of the supply chain – production, postharvest, processing, distribution and consumption.

The loss and waste in the five states is 19.4 percent of the food supply, said Dr Md Harunur Rashid.

Food Secretary Md Masudul Hasan said Bangladesh has attained a significant improvement in the areas of food security and nutrition.   “It is essential to reduce food waste for the sake of food security,” he said.

FAO Representative in Bangladesh Dr Jiaoqun Shi spoke at the event presided over by Agriculture Secretary Dr Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian.

In the function, the Agriculture Adviser distributed prizes among the winners of the World Food Day 2024 Poster Contest, held with the participation of students of schools and colleges from different parts of the country.

Besides, the adviser unveiled the cover of Fertilizer Information Guideline 2024 in the event.