TK Talk: How can a physicist, mathematician, or computational scientist get involved with solving world hunger?

Why is there world hunger in the first place? I ask in good faith, not sarcastically. Globally we produce so much food, there shouldn't be. So why? A major reason is we throw away altogether obscene amounts of food. Researching this answer led me to conclude that to solve world hunger, we need to stem our current global tidal wave of food wastage. Rather than contributions from specific specializations such as physics, mathematics or computer science, the scale of the problem suggests we need two things,

Massive global government level action to curb pre-consumption food wastage.
Profound changes in consumer culture that needs to also be part of school curricula to curb consumer food wastage.

My information gathering started with a throwaway statement in a news article (1) about a unique Danish restaurant that uses food that's on the verge of being thrown out by stores and producers. It quoted the restaurant founder who said, 'The Danes are world leaders in throwing out food'.

Global Food Wastage by the Numbers
So of course I had to find out just how much food Danes throw out.

The Danish government estimates, 'A Danish family throws out 105 kilos of edible food every year' (2).
The Swiss? The Swiss government estimates 'a third of all Swiss trash is food' (3).
The Swedish government (4; see figure below) is even more helpful. The Swedish EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) provides this table of tonnage of food waste that literally stuns by its magnitude:

I decided to look at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)'s statistics on global food wastage. Maybe I shouldn't have. The sheer scale almost gave me heart palpitations. Here in charts (from the FAO; see figure below) is a global horror story of billions of tons of edible food we callously, thoughtlessly and unforgivably throw away even as hundreds of millions among us starve.

Global pre-consumption loss:
- Ranges from a low of ~>100kg/year/person to a high of ~200 kg/year/person.
- This is massive pre-consumption loss.
- Problem is pre-consumption loss is not in the individual's hands.
- Rather government action is necessary to curb it.
Global consumer waste: Ranges from as low as ~<10 to as high as 120 kg/year/person.
- Sub-Saharan Africa, South & SE Asia consumers are most frugal.
- Wealthier the country, higher the consumption loss.
- Since hundreds of millions among us starve, it means the non-starving amongst us are wasting even more food.

From 5

Global food production: ~4 Billion tonnes/year (5, 6).
Global food production loss: ~1.3 to 2 Billion tonnes per year (~33 to 50%; see figure below from 7).
Obscene? Grotesque? Sheer horror? Language seems inadequate to describe our scale of food wastage.

Obstacles to Reducing Food Wastage?

Problem is different parts of the world waste food disproportionately at different stages in the farm-to-table cycle (see figure below from 7).
Africa, Latin America and Asia:
- Most waste is the farmer-producer end, i.e., production, post-harvest, processing and distribution (8, 9). Why?
- Inefficient harvesting.
- Poor storage and transport infrastructure.
- So loss due to damage, molds, rodents, spillage.
- For example, rice loss ranges from 37% (5) to 80% (10). Approx. 180 million tonnes annually (10).
- This represents waste of not just food but also energy, land and water.
- For example, ~550 billion cubic meters of water is wasted annually in growing crops that never reach the consumer (10).
Proportion of wastage increases up the distribution chain with improvement in the standard of development.
- For example, in transition countries like India and former Soviet Union countries, huge improvements at farm level haven't percolated up to cold-storage and food processing facilities.

OTOH, current industrialized countries emphasize chilling and freezing over canning and drying.

With such systems in place, a greater proportion of food reaches consumers than can be consumed by them.
Combined with consumerism and marketing, this leads to massive consumer wastage (8, 9).
For example, major buyers reject edible fruit and vegetables at the farm based on physical appearance.
Customers are aggressively targeted to buy more than they can consume.
Maintaining a cold chain is key. Much more demanding from an engineering standpoint. Also mandates much more expensive investment by less industrialized countries.
Since industrialized nations have perfected food production and distribution systems that systematically engender massive consumer wastage, is it sensible or even ethical for wannabe nations to mimic them?

Possible Solutions?

First, we need widespread awareness of the sheer massive scale of global food wastage.
Scale is so colossal, changes at the individual level are likely to be inconsequential.
We need to start paying for the real cost of food, at every stage in the chain.
We need to be weaned away from the marketing and consumer culture that's emerged around food since WW II.
Requires change not just among consumers but also among wholesalers and retailers.
Governments need to lead the way, with sticks if necessary.
For example, recently the French government passed a law mandating supermarkets to donate unsold food to charities or for animal food. They will no longer be allowed to throw it away (11). If only this could happen in the US! The food that American grocery stores throw away on a daily basis is nothing short of criminal.
Onus is on each and every one of us to educate ourselves and our children on the origin of our food.
For example, maybe households could be fined based on the amount of excess food waste they discard in the municipal trash? Municipalities would have to arrive at a consensus on what's excess of course. Some cities in the US have a primitive version of such a system already in place where they charge residents based on the amount of garbage they generate (12).
Revenue generated from producer- and citizen-sourced food wastage fines could be used to set up many more food banks for the marginalized, poor, needy and homeless. Redistribution not of wealth but of much needed, life sustaining food. Maybe that won't be such a political hot potato?

Bibliography

https://www.quora.com/How-can-a-physicist-mathematician-or-computational-scientist-get-involved-with-solving-world-hunger/answer/Tirumalai-Kamala

TK Talk

Sunday, January 3, 2016

How can a physicist, mathematician, or computational scientist get involved with solving world hunger?

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