THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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Ankara – Union of Turkish Agricultural Chambers (TZOB) Chairman Şemsi Bayraktar said that struggle with waste should start in the field and the waste took place during the production process is as much important as that of consumption stage.
In his statement, Bayraktar noted that the food waste reaches to large levels at every stage from production to table and the size of the food waste in production, usage, marketing and consumption in our country reaches 35.4 billion dollars. Stating that while 820 million people are starving in the world, over 10 million people die from starvation every year, Bayraktar emphasized that 1.3 billion tons of 4 billion tons of food produced annually go to landfills without being consumed and that hunger in the world can be completely eliminated even with almost half of this food. Bayraktar stressed that the way to solve the hunger problem is to prevent wasting.
According to scientific researches in developed countries the waste reaches to 40 percent from farm to table and also in Turkey at least one-quarter of the fruits and vegetables is wasted without consuming.
Bayraktar added, “Apart from the human dimension of business, the economic dimension is catching huge numbers. In our country, 10.7 million tons out of 119.2 million tons of staple products in 2019, was lost before reaching the table. This alone means more products than a country with 8-10 million people can consume.”
Indicating that household expenditures for food and non-alcoholic beverages reached 90.6 billion dollars in 2018, Bayraktar concluded, “25-30 percent of this amount is wasted. Accordingly, waste in the end consumer reaches 27.2 billion dollars. According to the calculation, production, usage and market losses also reach 8.2 billion dollars in consumer prices. Thus, the total loss reaches 35.4 billion dollars.”
