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Food loss in India: water footprint, land footprint and GHG emissions

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  • Durba Kashyap

    (National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management)

  • Tripti Agarwal

    (National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management)

Abstract

Natural resources are consumed in food production, and food loss is consequently accompanied with a loss of resources as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study analyses food loss based on India-specific production data (for the year 2013) and reported food loss rates during production and post-harvest stages of major food crops and animal products in India. Further, the study evaluates the environmental impacts of food loss in terms of utilization of water, land resources and GHG emissions. The total food loss in harvest and post-harvest stages of the food supply chain for the selected food items amounted to 58.3 ± 2.22 million tonnes (Mt) in the year 2013 with the highest losses by mass in sugarcane and rice. The volume of water associated with the food losses was found to be 115 ± 4.15 billion m3, of which 105 ± 3.77 billion m3 was direct water use (blue + green) and 9.54 ± 0.38 billion m3 was indirect water use (grey). Wasted sugarcane and rice were found to be the largest contributors for water loss. Land footprint and carbon footprint associated with food loss were found to be 9.58 ± 0.4 million hectares (Mha) and 64.1 ± 3.8 Mt CO2eq, respectively, with rice accounting for the largest impact in both. This highlights the immediate need for quantification and taking measures for minimization of losses across the food supply chains in India.

Suggested Citation

  • Durba Kashyap & Tripti Agarwal, 2020. "Food loss in India: water footprint, land footprint and GHG emissions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 2905-2918, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:22:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s10668-019-00325-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-019-00325-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Nicholas Davison & Jaime Borbolla Gaxiola & Divya Gupta & Anurag Garg & Timothy Cockerill & Yuzhou Tang & Xueliang Yuan & Andrew Ross, 2022. "Potential Greenhouse Gas Mitigation for Converting High Moisture Food Waste into Bio-Coal from Hydrothermal Carbonisation in India, Europe and China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-37, February.
    3. Ludmiła Filina-Dawidowicz & Anna Wiktorowska-Jasik, 2022. "Contemporary problems and challenges of sustainable distribution of perishable cargoes: Case study of Polish cold port stores," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 4434-4450, March.

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