Half of all raw food produced is wasted

HALF of all the raw food produced is wasted in a world where close to a billion people are hungry, Macra na Feirme’s national rally was told in Galway at the weekend.

The issue was highlighted during a conference debate on the issue of food versus fuel, which followed visits by young farmer delegates to local beef, biofuel and dairy farms.

Stephen Shorten, director Gro-Oil, a company formed in west Cork to manufacture biodiesel from rape seed, said the food waste is due to over processing, rejection for appearance and size or just being left on plates.

The fact that one billion people suffer from malnourishment is due to social or political issues, not a lack of food, he said.

Mr Shorten said there is 2kg of food per day available for every man, woman and child on the planet — 1.2kg of beans, grains and nuts, 0.5kg of fruit and vegetables and 0.5kg of meat milk and eggs. While global production of biofuels has affected food prices, Irish production from indigenous raw materials has not.

Mr Shorten said the European Commission has pointed out that there are strong indications that its biofuel production has little impact on current global food prices as biofuels use less than 1% of EU cereal production.

The essential aim of EU Sustainability Criteria, now being finalised, is to ensure that biofuels used within the union do not result in adverse consequences for societies and the environment globally, he said.

Concern Worldwide chief executive Tom Arnold said the world trade negotiations on agriculture have not gone away and would be back on the table again. The world had taken its eye off agriculture over the past 25 years and it needs now to put it back on it.

Mr Arnold said policy changes are needed in the countries where there is hunger. A lot more attention also needs to be given at national and international levels to tackling nutritional problems.