In April, the Stabroek News Business section had reported on a glut in greens and vegetables on the local market. Prices were so low as to tempt consumers to buy more, but greens and vegetables are perishable items, which do not last long even when refrigerated. To be preserved they would need to be frozen or canned. Freezing is not popular in Guyana for two reasons: first, stability of electricity is iffy, unscheduled and prolonged blackouts could wreak havoc with this activity and second, fresh, just reaped produce is available year round and the usual practice is to buy whatever is in season.
Occasionally, there is a glut, such as occurred in April. But even without that, there is significant dumping, wastage of produce. Sometimes, it is because items are priced beyond the average consumer’s pocket. Also, because the markets where the majority of farmers’ produce is sold are open air, the weather tends to quickly wilt and ravage greens and vegetables causing them to look less than appetizing. Consumers will naturally pass them up as there is always fresher, perkier produce at the next stall or around the corner.
This is not a problem that is peculiar to Guyana. Not at all. It is endemic, and in developed countries, strategies are constantly being worked out to reduce waste. More so because they have devised means of calculating waste in terms of tonnage and even nutritional and caloric value. For instance, a recent study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, USA determined that some 30 to 40 per cent of food produced in the United States is wasted, the equivalent of 1,250 to 1,400 calories per person per day.
According to a report in Reuters Health, the researchers used US Department of Agriculture data to calculate the nutritional value of foods in 213 categories that were wasted, both at the retail level and in homes, during 2012. It found that vegetables, fruits and seafood were dumped more often than other food items and that these were among the foods with the most nutritious value. Researchers were able to work out that nationwide, wasted food contained an estimated 1,200 calories, as well as 146 grammes (g) of carbohydrate, 33 g of protein, 6 g of fibre, 286 milligrammes (mg) of calcium, 2 mg of vitamin D and 900 mg of potassium per person per day, among other nutrients, including dietary fibre.
This is alarming considering that persons frequently fall ill as a result of nutrient deficiency and must visit doctors and pharmacies where they have to purchase these essentials in medicinal form. This has been going on for years and it is a circle that no country seems able to fully escape.
In Guyana’s case, consumers can often be found purchasing over-the-counter vitamins and minerals in tablet form in innocuous-looking little plastic or paper packets. These retail items, which can be found in virtually every pharmacy—packaged to meet the needs of consumers who cannot afford the entire bottle—often carry no expiration date. Whether they are completely safe or not, they are snapped up by otherwise seemingly discerning consumers who would turn up their noses at a cup of bruised cherries or a bunch of spotted bananas, which in fact would offer just as much or more nutritional value than they would receive from the pills they purchase instead.
In addition, it must be noted that some countries, such as Denmark and the United Kingdom, have launched projects to cut food waste which include massive markdowns on less than fresh produce and giveaways to soup kitchens, feeding programmes and the like – in some cases even to individuals. Last year, France passed a law which bans supermarkets from throwing away unsold produce. They are now mandated to donate unwanted, unspoilt food to charities and food banks, resulting in meals being more accessible to the poor and homeless.
It is mind-boggling that people seem to prefer to toss food away rather than sell it at cost, below cost or give it away before it spoils. Yet that is exactly what happens here. There seems to be no conscious thought given to the money that could be saved and the tons of food waste prevented if school-feeding and other similar programmes could have access to days-old, unspoilt food on a daily basis. It would require some amount of coordination, of course. But it would surely be more sensible and more nutritious than feeding children and the needy high carb meals with a smattering of vegetables that come from a can.
While it appears that the concept of waste not want not has been lost or shoved aside, it is not too late to shift the dynamics, particularly with the current move toward increased production and the recent diversification into new crops such as onions and potatoes. It makes no sense to grow more food if it will end up in the landfill. Apart from a boost in its agro-processing capabilities, Guyana desperately needs a food recovery programme that will put a dent in the current wastage.
