It’s easy to go to your local grocery store, pick up your essentials and head home. You can even have your groceries delivered to you within a day with a few clicks if you need. What consumers tend to forget about is the production, export and all the behind-the-scenes aspects of their groceries. The pandemic especially has had a major impact on the food production around the globe. Asia Pacific is one of the largest contributors to the worlds food supply and yet it is heavily affected by poverty and malnourishment. According to the Jong-jin Kim, assistant director-general and regional representative for Asia and the Pacific with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), roughly 51%, 350 million of the world’s malnourished population live in the Asia Pacific. The projections on the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report show that without considering the global pandemic, Southern and Southeast Asia have made progress in reducing malnourishment, but it is unlikely they will meet the SDG Target 2.1 by 2030.
The evolution of the pandemic continues to have an impact on income, malnutrition, and resources for food production. According to a recent UN report entitled The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World almost 10 percent of the world population still lives on USD 1.90 per day or less, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. The is no way of knowing to how much extent the pandemic has and will continue to disrupt food security, but it is important to do our part to prevent its growth. Farmers need resources like seeds, workers, and suitable land where they can crop their seeds but with low income and a shortage of supplies this is very difficult to achieve. The constant changes in weather conditions, spread of diseases, unhealthy water and climate change are all factors which are prevalent contributors to the overall structural imbalances in poverty and hunger in the Asia Pacific regions. Farmers need access to electricity, finance and essential equipment and facilities to provide nutritious food locally and globally.
HAVE CAN YOU HELP?
The conventional system of food transportation into larger cities uses up fuel and energy and proves to be vulnerable with the Covid-19 disruptions. Due to the disruptions caused in the supply chain it is important to strengthen local food production. Home farming is a system that provides day to day access to nutritious and fresh food for families at a lower price. Integrating a home garden into your life can be a positive experience as well as contribute to your overall health, and productivity. It is an opportunity to build your knowledge and skills in nutrition e.g. which nutrient crops contain and your overall knowledge of gardening techniques.
“With the global urban market expected to reach US$ 236.4 billion by 2023, community gardening tools and home gardens are generating more revenue for small-scale farmers today. Urban Agriculture produces 20% of the world’s food keeping engaged everyone in urban farming globally.” (Raj, 2021)
If you are lucky enough to have a garden, use the space to plant fruit, vegetables or even herbs. This method will not only save you your hard-earned money, but it will also lower the demand of foods in supermarkets thus sparing farming and exporting resources in poverty affected countries. Lowering the food consumption will step by step retract the global demand for food that’s essential to feed the entire population. We all love to eat and treat ourselves to goodies and sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomach so when we head to the supermarket, we may feel the necessity to buy more than we can manage. At IntelliDigest, we encourage you to grow your own fruit and vegetables if possible. If you feel like you are growing more than you consume, offer them to your neighbours and friends.
HOW CAN INTELLIDIGEST HELP?
Food is important to all of us, and therefore at IntelliDigest we offer educational ‘knowledge to action’ courses where we offer you our skills and expertise to educate yourself on food sustainability. There is a variety of courses covering topics ranging from consumer behaviour to nutrition in sustainable food systems. Our courses are available online so you will have no hassle of travelling! After gaining significant knowledge from the courses, you will have the opportunity to work with IntelliDigest more closely so we can make a change together, whether you’re a business or an individual courses. We also offer the Global Food Waste and Loss tracker app which lets you measure and track how much food your household or business produces.
The Global Food Loss and Waste Tracker
Our app is designed to suit users at both agricultural and consumer level so no matter who you are, The Global Food Waste and Loss Tracker can help you understand how much food you throw away everyday as well as coach you on the different ways you can shape your consumer behaviour and adopt a sustainable approach in your lifestyle.