India wastes one-third of grain it produces say experts

Amidst the ongoing debate regarding the crisis of farmers in the agricultural sector, there is now a news of relief. This year, the wheat production during the Rabi season in the country is estimated to be the highest ever. However, one third of the grains in the country still get wasted due to our carelessness. In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, Dr. Himanshu Pathak, Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, said that there are two important reasons behind this. This year, the weather has been suitable for wheat crop and secondly, Climate Resilient Varieties of wheat were sown in Rabi season in large parts of the country, which benefited wheat farmers.

While food production is increasing, the level of grain wastage also remains very high. According to the facts presented at the AGM of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in Pusa Complex, 1/3 of the grain is wasted every year. One-third of the grain produced in India is wasted or spoiled before it can be consumed. 687 million tonnes of food is wasted annually in Indian households i.e. 50 kg of grain is wasted per person.

Dr. Himanshu Pathak said, "We find in our study that there is a lot of grain that reaches your plate from loss harvest. We have to think about how to minimize the wastage of grains...by 20%. Up to 25% of the grain is wasted from harvesting of grain to the dinner plate… We believe that we can reduce the wastage of grain by 10% to 15% with the help of technology. Through spreading awareness of the society This can be reduced by improving infrastructure and infrastructure. Obviously, the problem of food wastage is big and to deal with it, the government will have to take immediate initiative on a large scale.

Dr. Himanshu Pathak said that this time we estimate that the wheat production which had reached 112 million tonnes last year will be even more this year. The reason for this is that the current temperature has been good for the wheat crop. An even more important reason is that this time climate resilient varieties have been used in wheat sowing in more than 85% of the area. Due to these flexible wheat varieties, there is going to be a record production of wheat this year. This will have a positive effect on other crops as well."