Bapanas intensifies movement against food waste

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's National Food Agency (Bapanas) has been intensifying its movement against food waste in the country to improve people's awareness of the danger of food loss and food waste behavior.

"Improving public awareness of food waste and over consumption of food is something that really concerns Bapanas," Deputy for Food and Nutrition Insecurity at Bapanas Nyoto Suwignyo said at an event held to commemorate the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste here Sunday.

In its food loss and waste management roadmap, the Indonesian Government has prepared an appropriate strategy and scenario for achieving food security.

To this end, it has set a food loss and waste management target of 50 percent in 2030 and 75 percent in 2045,.he said, adding that the total food loss and waste can be reduced to around 60 thousand tons in 2045.

The total food loss is projected to decline to around 20 thousand tons while food waste is estimated to decline to around 40 thousand tons.

Baca juga: Harga pangan hari ini fluktuatif, Bawang merah Rp28.150 per kg

"We must build (Indonesia to become) a well-developed country without food waste," he said.

In line with the commemoration of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, he expressed hope that there would be significant progress in the Stop Food Waste movement. Since late 2022, Bapanas has carried out the Saving Food Movement by promoting food donations, he said.

Baca juga: Sejumlah harga pangan hari ini naik: Bawang putih naik jadi Rp40.190 per kg

As a result,  as of September 2023, a total of 52,785.68 kilograms of food could have been saved. Until September 2024, the food that could be saved rose to 71,968 kilograms in total, he said.

To bolster the handling of food loss and waste, Bapanas is pushing for a government regulation that can become a legal basis for food loss and waste management in Indonesia, he added.