Hunger on the Rise Whilst Cameroon Experience Food Waste

Recently I when to the market to buy food stuff, on reaching the market I realized prices for commodities especially on local food have skyrocketed. In my state of shock at the recent price height I tried to ask a few local food suppliers, all women. These women said food crops like plantain, cocoyam, maize, beans, potatoes, and a variety of vegetables and fruits are readily available on the farms but in short supply in the markets. This local scarcity is the main cause to the recent price increase. They continued by saying “we farmers can't go to our farmers to harvest for the market because we are afraid of the frequent slashes between military men and the restoration forces. This slashes has resulted to what is now called by many the unknown. These frequent slashes have led to the death of many of our brothers and sisters who go out to look for food these women lamented. In some places roads to farm has been block making transportation of food crops to the market impossible. Another farmer said '' I have a 20 hectare plantain farm in Mamfe a town in the Southwest region of Cameroon, but I can't go to my farm because the road is blocked. At this juncture I begin to weep at what is happening to the food in his farm and other farms.
banana market 2.jpg
source: cameroonpostline.com

coco yam (4).jpg
source: flickr.com

fruits 3(4).jpg
source : businessincameroon.com

Now let’s look at what is described in Cameroon as the known. The unknown in Cameroon especially in Anglophone Cameroon is what has been termed the Anglophone crisis. In recent times the population has witness frequent gun shots in villages where most of the food is coming from, market places, schools and even on the streets. This act has scared the population mostly farmers from going to their farms.

With these recent happenings, Cameroon is experiencing price increase as a result of food waste. Food waste or food lost can be defined as the decrease of food at different stages along the food supply chain intended for human consumption. Food is lost or wasted throughout the supply chain, from initial production down to final household consumption. The most common form of food waste is mostly at the level of final household consumption but in Anglophone Cameroon today the greatest food waste and loss is at the initial production stage as food is abandoned to rot in farms. As the abandoned food stuff is wasted all the resources that went into planting the food is wasted as well. This means huge amounts of chemicals, energy, fertilizer, and land used to produce the food is thrown away.

food waste.jpg
source : npr.org

We will together examine the environmental impact of food waste in my next post.
God restore peace in my country Cameroon.

Thanks for reading and upvoting my post.

Links
https://www.moveforhunger.org/the-environmental-impact-of-food-waste/

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