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Daniel Constantin: Romania will draw up national strategy to reduce food losses and waste
In the coming period, Romania will draw up a national strategy for the reduction of food losses and waste, in the conditions in which, annually, the losses are higher than the 179 kilograms per inhabitant registered in the EU, Agriculture Minister Daniel Constantin said at the Palace of Parliament on Tuesday.
'For now, we haven't very many figures, but Romania has a loss higher than 179 kilograms per capita, as annually registered in Europe. In the coming period, we shall have the exact figures from the working group set up last year with the Environment Ministry, in which we plan, besides the identification of the exact figures and of some solutions, the draw up of a national strategy in this respect,' Daniel Constantin said, in the works of FAO's European Commission for Agriculture.
He pointed out that the food waste is a problem concerning Romania, an interministerial group having been created last year to identify and eliminate food waste.
According to the data of the United Nations' Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), over 1.3 billion tonnes of food are annually wasted worldwide, which represents one third of the world food production and 750 billion-dollar costs, in a world in which 842 million persons are confronted with starvation, malnutrition and food insecurity.
Moreover, this waste represents a damage for the environment because each year the food produced without being consumed swallows a water volume equivalent with the annual flow of Volga River of Russia and is responsible for bringing to the atmosphere 3.3 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas, the FAO data reveal.
Romania currently registers a five million tonne food waste, while in the EU approximately 90 million tonnes of food end up in the garbage bins.
Romania, in the period March 29 - April 4, 2014, at the Palace of Parliament hosts the 29th Regional Conference of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for Europe and Central Asia and the works of the 38th session of FAO's European Commission for Agriculture, events expecting about 350 participants from 55 countries.