Reducing food wastage and hunger in India

According to FAO estimates, over 190 million people in India are undernourished (which is approximately 20% of our population). And one-third of world’s stunted children are from India. In spite of this, it is estimated by the UN that nearly 40% of food in India is wasted or lost. Food wastage in India happens at multiple levels – harvesting, transporting, processing, packaging and consuming. Weddings, events, restaurants, hostels and houses are a major source for food wastage of cooked food.

Delivery app reducing food wastage

Having worked closely with Feeding India, Robin Hood Army and Akshaya Patra Foundation in the past to alleviate some of these problems, Zomato has begun a new, and a more concrete chapter around serving the underserved by acquiring the non-profit organisation, Feeding India. “It is an important step for us, as both organizations share a common dream of ending hunger and food wastage — not just in India, but globally,” says Deepinder Goyal, Founder & CEO, Zomato.

Within these 6 months of working together, they’ve been able to unlock the massive potential that comes with reach and scale. In December of 2018, Feeding India distributed 78,300 monthly meals to the underprivileged. That figure has now skyrocketed to over 1.1 million meals a month. Similarly, the number of cities Feeding India is active in has risen from 65 to 82. The number of Hunger Heroes (volunteers at Feeding India) has grown from 8,500 to 21,500.

Zomato and Feeding India also closely collaborated during the Odisha cyclone crisis and managed to activate users, partners and volunteers to get 75,000 meals along with necessities for daily survival for a month to 16,500 people in Odisha. Feeding India will continue to be a non profit. Zomato will fund the development of the ‘Feedi.ng’ app – this app will connect donors and volunteers at a big scale. “We are hoping that in a few years, it will be the platform to serve at least 100m underprivileged people every month,” says Goyal. The first Feeding Global – Financial Transparency Report, is expected by October 2019.

Food for everyone is not something we can solve alone. Every food organisation needs to come together and tackle this important issue with their combined resources and know-how. Accenture, Elanpro, Tupperware, Uber Eats, OYO and Sodexo are already partnering in this mission of reducing food wastage in India.

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