WASHINGTON — Artificially low food prices that distort markets contribute to the 30% of food that is currently wasted and lost around the world, according to a new report from the World Bank.
The report, “Addressing Food Loss and Waste: A Global Problem with Local Solutions,” notes that both producers and consumers avoid paying for the true cost of the environmental impact of agriculture. Government subsidies provided to both producers and consumers reduce the incentive for them to save food.
“Effectively, the prices no longer are market prices, which means they are not really incorporating the actual cost of production, and the actual cost of production means using the scarce environmental resources. If they get artificially priced in a way that it just doesn’t make it worth saving, right, if the price is too low we don’t bother, it’s just not worth the cost,” said Geeta Sethi, adviser in World Bank’s agriculture and food global practice.
“So it creates a very artificial market-clearing mechanism, and the outcome of that is this global bad, which [are these] 30% losses,” continued Sethi, who is the main author of the report. “The system is not really growing enough of the nutritious food. The market signals get distorted.”
“COVID-19 is a great opportunity, because for the first time, food systems are now on the radar of heads of state and ministers of finance.”
— Geeta Sethi, adviser, World Bank’s agriculture and food global practice
Growing food uses natural resources that generate pollution, while greenhouse gases are emitted by decomposing, unconsumed food. Eight percent of total global emissions are related to food waste and loss. Read further from the source above