The ongoing National Campaign on Reducing Food Wastage꞉ Don’t You Waste Food Campaign (DYWF) a seminar on Effective Measures to Reduce Food Wastage by 50% at the Household, Institutional and Industrial Level was organized on January 22, 2019 at Hotel Pragati Manor, GS Road, Guwahati. With an agenda to discuss the possible solutions that would catalyze food waste reduction, the System Research Society (SRS)
The seminar saw three sessions which took place throughout the day which focussed on different aspects of food wastage and discussions took place on the possible ways to curb it.
In one of the sessions, former chairperson FICCI Ladies Organisation, North East spoke on the need to honour food, the process of growing food and processing it as this ultimately honours all the labour that goes into making it. It thus honours resources, the farmers, the nation and ultimately the planet. She suggested an idea wherein the food channels can flash a warning, ‘food wastage is injurious to nation’s health.’
Vice Chairperson, minority department of Assam Tinat Atifa Masood, presented her ideas and possible solutions for food waste minimization. Her emphasis was on the role of women in reducing food waste.
Further former executive editor of Eastern Chronicle Nurul Islam Laskar, stressed on the need to check the infrastructural loopholes in the food supply system.
The second session was chaired by the editor of G Plus, Swapnil Bharali. The speakers for this session included the principal of Royal Global School, Anubha Goyal and advocate in Gauhati High Court, Dr. Shahnaaz Rehman.
Goyal talked about the relevance and ways of reducing food waste in educational institutions. She said that educationists have a huge role to play in bringing change into the society, and values and skills of food waste management can be imparted at school and university level by including it as a part of the curriculum.
On the other hand, Rehman spoke about the importance of a legal framework for food waste reduction. She drew attention towards the fact that there is lack of legal framework in India that supports the cause of food waste reduction and thence climate change.
