'G-20 should take initiatives to reduce food wastage'

India today said G-20 nations need put in place a mechanism to reduce food wastage and losses while keeping in view the needs of developing countries, besides taking initiatives to improve farm production.
Expressing concern over the problem of "chronic household food insecurity", India also emphasised the need to make distinction between transient and chronic food security.
The country further said that food inflation cannot be checked without raising farm output and hence G-20 should focus on farm research.
Addressing the two-day meeting in Istanbul, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said: "An implementation plan for reducing food waste needs to be in place for which the concerns of the low income and developing countries and not alone of G-20 countries should be kept in view."

India is of the view that technologies developed for minimising food losses and wastages should be commensurate to the needs of low income countries, he said in a statement released by the Agriculture Ministry.
"Enhancement in production and productivity of agriculture commodities is not the only area of concern, initiatives must be undertaken for reducing food waste and losses," he added.

The Minister also said that the G-20 nations should give more more emphasise towards accountability and monitoring of the ongoing initiatives rather adding more.
The meeting of agriculture ministers from G-20 countries focused on problems of food security and nutrition, including the impact of climate change.

Asserting that raising agri-production is key to addressing food inflation, the Minister said, "India firmly believes that with shrinking resources, enhancement in productivity and production can only be achieved through research in this sector."
The G-20 nations should strive on farm research and also look at jointly developing Centres of Excellence in post-harvest and market-linked supply chain, he added.
On food security, the Minister said that there is a need to solve the problem of chronic household food insecurity.
"Now food energy intake at household level is given importance in assessing food security though the norms set for the same have also been questioned by nutritionists," he said, adding that the concept of food security has now undergone considerable changes.

"While formulating policy in the matter, a distinction need to be made between transient and chronic food security. The strategy to overcome this problem lies in intervention to raise the purchasing power of the poor to improve and ensure food availability to the poor," he added.