Dr. Mhonchan Shitiri
Wokha.
When the Wokha District Legal Services Authority invited me to attend the World Environment Day and speak on the anti-food waste and food loss campaign theme, Think-Eat-Save, immediately that comes into my mind was the food waste and loss through overeating and gluttony that has become inherent with the Nagas.
Nagaland is a consumer State and she cannot be so much wasteful and profligate. For instance, an adult daily protein requirement from animal source as is recommended by Indian Council of Medical Research is 50gm, which is to say that theoretically a kilo of lean pork/beef should serve 20 persons but practically for the Nagas it is for a family size of 5-6.What we need to know is that, our body after it absorbs what is required for our body’s growth and maintenance will excrete as waste in the form of stool and the rest deposited as fat in the waistline. Over eating and gluttony not only drains our economy and effects our health but it is also unethical from Christian point of view because it desist us (Proverbs: 23) and gluttony is considered as one of the seven deadly natural born sins.
FAO is putting the world’s annual food waste and loss at somewhere 1.3 billion tonnes which is enough to feed 1/3 of the world’s population. This is colossal and also distressing when everyday a billion or so people are going to bed hungry. Food crisis is likely to keep on increasing with the way the world population is increasing. Earth scientists are of the opinion that our Mother Earth can carry and sustain 2-3 billion people at a good standard of living over a long term. But She is already carrying over 7 billion- and still counting and likely to reach 8 billion by 2025 when Vision 2025 food for all is to be achieved.
The way our state’s economy is growing-6.2 lowest even among the NE states, it is time we create awareness on food waste and loss be it at the individual, family or community level and to begin with it is a positive sign when our Chief Minister himself is wary of our Naga food habit. We need to be conscious and conservative in buying and eating food and other consumable things.
A lesson can be learned from the oldest person in the world Jiroemon Kimura of Japan who died of natural causes at the age of 116 on Wednesday. He did not smoke and only eat 80% of his fill and his motto in life was “Eat Light and Live Long”.
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