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Each household in Nairobi County discards at least 100kg of food per year, a United Nations waste food index report has revealed.

This is even as a majority of Kenyans go hungry after a prolonged drought preceded by El Nino floods that disrupted agriculture in many regions of the country.

Shockingly, separate past studies estimate that two out of 10 people in Nairobi’s slums go without a meal each day.

Additionally, government agencies estimated that over 5.4 million Kenyans experienced severe food shortages between March and June 2023 due to persistent droughts and irregular rainfall, which negatively affected crop production and disrupted food supply chains as 4.3 million tonnes of food go to waste yearly in the capital city.

The waste food index published by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) also shows high food wastage in Kiambu and Mombasa urban counties with an estimated 99 and 80kg per household every year, respectively.

Other counties featured in the report are Taita Taveta whose households wasted 55kg per year and Homa Bay with 40kg of food wasted per year by each household.

In Africa, Egypt wasted the highest amount of food where in the town of Qena, each household throws in the dustbin approximately 207kg of food.

Highly discarded food

Globally fruits and vegetables are the highly discarded food at 62 per cent, wheat products follow at 16 per cent while meat and dairy products tie at 11 per cent.

However, in Kenya maize products could account for the largest portions of food going down the drain given that they are consumed in large quantities.

Across all continents, households wasted over a billion meals a day in 2022, while 783 million people were affected by hunger and a third of humanity faced food insecurity. The environmental agency says that food waste continues to hurt the global economy and fuel climate change, nature loss, and pollution.

“Food loss and food waste is responsible for eight to 10 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions- five times that of the aviation sector and is considered amongst the largest sources of global emissions of methane. A potent greenhouse gas responsible for about 30 per cent of the current rise in global temperature,” UNEP Climate Change Division director Dechen Tsering said.

Food insecurity

According to UNEP, reducing food waste will not only help in addressing food insecurity but it is also a key component for climate action, essential in fighting the triple planetary crises.

“Food waste is a global tragedy. Millions will go hungry today as food is wasted across the world,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “Not only is this a major development issue, but the impacts of such unnecessary waste are causing substantial costs to the climate and nature.

The good news is we know if countries prioritise this issue, they can significantly reverse food loss and waste, reduce climate impacts and economic losses, and accelerate progress on global goals.”

Additionally, the study confirmed that food waste is not just a ‘rich country’ problem, with levels of household food waste differing in observed average levels for high-income, upper-middle, and lower-middle-income countries by just 7kg per capita.

At the same time, hotter countries appear to generate more food waste per capita in households, which is linked to higher consumption of fresh foods with substantial inedible parts and a lack of robust cold chains to store food.

With data showing that the world is paying a hefty price of an estimated USD1 trillion (Sh132.4 trillion) for food loss and wastage, UNEP is calling on governments to strengthen food waste reduction and circularity.

The agency notes that rural areas generally waste less food, as food scraps are fed to pets, and livestock, and home composting for organic manure used in farming.

Further, the study found out about 28 per cent of the world’s agricultural areas are used to produce food which eventually get wasted adding that wasting food leads to a waste of land that is precious, culturally significant, and critical to the ecosystem.

Recognizing the connection between food waste and loss of biodiversity, UNEP is calling for an increase in sustainable food consumption.

“With the huge cost to the environment, society, and global economies caused by food waste, we need greater coordinated action across continents and supply chains. We support UNEP in calling for more G20 countries to measure food waste and work towards SDG12.3,” said Harriet Lamb, Chief Executive Officer of WRAP.