Correlation of Food Waste/ Food Loss and Water Conservation:
Every food product is produced only after spending its share of resources, may it be water, fertilizers, etc. Wasting food means, indirectly one is wasting all the inputs/ resources spent for its production, processing, marketing etc.
So reducing food waste/ food loss can directly ensure food security and indirectly allow proper utilization of all the virtual water spent for production, processing, marketing the food product. Hence there is grave necessity to mention prevention of Food Wastage/ Food Loss in relation to Water Conservation
Different Levels for prevention of Food Loss/ Food Wastage and Water Loss/ Water Wastage:
Field Level:
Crop Diversification: Growing single crop in large areas at a stretch may lead to production more than needed leading to wastage. Improper production strategy of farmers would result in over production which ultimately leads to wastage and also very low returns to the farmer.
Growing different type of crops in an area and enlighten farmers about advances in farming practices and irrigation systems of different crops, along with care to be taken while harvesting and also after harvest would prevent loss of lots of produce. There should be a government policy to plan production strategy for farmers, to decide crop area based upon demand in the nation.
Improper cultivation practices: Lack of proper knowledge about cultivation, harvesting and package; lot of food grains, fruits and vegetables are lost.
Post Harvest:
Judging proper maturity indices, based upon market availability would prevent food loss to great extent. Enlightening farmers about proper post harvest, packing, storage techniques depending upon on crop, climate and demand would play a very important role in reducing food loss during storage and transport.
Quality of water plays a very major role in maintaining quality parameters of processed products. Storage capacity of processed products also widely depends on quality of water used. While in other hand, export value of processed foods also depends upon quality of water used while processing.
Consumer Level:
Educating people to prevent domestic food wastage by conducting campaigns in communities, schools, colleges and other public places. Make a strong policy to prevent food wastage by levying extra tax on people wasting food in the restaurants.
Vijay Yadav