The Food Waste Index Report 2024 by the UN Environment Programme has indicated that, on average, each person wastes 79 kilogrammes of food annually.

The report, which started in 2021, is tracking country-level progress to halve food waste by 2030.

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The world wastes 1.05 billion tonnes of food annually and this amounts to one-fifth (19 per cent) of food available to consumers being wasted, at the retail, food service, and household levels, according to the report.

"That is in addition to the 13 per cent of the world’s food lost in the supply chain,” it says. Most of the world’s food waste comes from households.

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Out of the total food waste per year, households were responsible for 631 million tonnes equivalent to 60 per cent, the food service sector for 290 tonnes and the retail sector for 131 tonnes.

"It occurs while 783 million people are hungry, and a third of humanity faces food insecurity, and 150 million children under the age of five suffer stunted growth and development due to a chronic lack of essential nutrients in their diets.

"Food loss and waste generate 8-10 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – almost five times the total emissions from the aviation sector,” the report warns.

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The equivalent of at least one billion meals of edible food is being wasted in households worldwide every single day, using a very conservative assessment of the share of food waste that is edible.

"This is the equivalent of 1.3 meals every day for everyone in the world impacted by hunger,” explains the report, adding that food waste is a market failure that results in the throwing away of more than US$1 trillion worth of food every year.

How much food waste is Rwanda incurring?

According to the report, each person in a household in Rwanda wastes 141 kilogrammes of food every year.

It says households in the country waste 1, 937, 761 tonnes of food.

This amount of wasted food has decreased from 2,075,405 tonnes per year by 2021 and 164 kilogrammes per person.

In 2022, Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), announced that up to 40 per cent of the total food produced each year is lost or wasted in Rwanda.

This amount of food waste represents food that can be grown and harvested on 21 per cent of the total arable land in the country.

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The study shows that calculated food waste also contributes 16 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in Rwanda.

Food waste is still being incurred at a time when 18 per cent of the country's households are still food insecure, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources.

"Food waste must be addressed at both individual and systemic levels, including targeted efforts in urban areas and international collaboration among countries and across supply chains,” the report recommended.

The recommendations also suggest Public-Private Partnerships to decrease food waste and address the impacts on climate and water stress, a concept that is increasingly being adopted by numerous governments, regional, and industry organisations.

"Countries that have been tackling this issue for many years are invited to step up efforts to share their experiences and resources with countries that are just getting started,” the report noted.