The average consumer in a developing country wastes 24 pounds of food. In comparison, the average western consumer wastes about 220 pounds. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

As food prices soar, one culprit might be our relationship with the landfill.

About one billion tons of food is wasted yearly, according to the UNFAO. The average consumer in a developing country wastes 24 pounds of food. In comparison, the average western consumer wastes about 220 pounds.

Last year, food prices reached the highest levels globally since the UN’s FAO indexing began in 1990. This year, food prices could rise another 20 percent. And when food prices rise, food insecurity follows, impacting rich and poor countries alike.

The recent increase in food prices can be explained by several factors: growing energy demands, population pressures, and a series of particularly severe weather events, according to the New York Times. In 2010, crops perished from wildfires in Russia, floods in Pakistan, cyclones in Australia, and severe droughts in Latin America. But despite these natural explanations, one of the largest burdens to addressing food insecurity is waste, — 30-50 percent of food produced is wasted globally.

But reasons for wasting food differ greatly across the world. Rich countries waste due to habit. Poor countries waste due to inadequate storage, according to a special report by The Economist.

Without proper equipment to store food, farming regions in poor countries waste the most -- involuntarily. Silos, transportation vehicles, and refrigerators are all essential for storing crops, along with preventing dairy and vegetables from spoiling. But these materials are expensive. Kanayo Nwanze, head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, tells the Economist that in poor countries, losses from wasted food could be cut in half. But this requires large investment in agricultural infrastructure.

In contrast, waste from wealthier countries can be explained by habit. In the U.S., food insecurity is not an apparent problem with food being so affordable and available. Average Americans spend 10 percent of their income on food. In poor countries, it's closer to 70 percent. Poor countries conserve because they have to; rich countries waste because they can.

The solution: poor countries need heavy investment and rich countries need behavioral change. Laurie Garrett, CFR’s Senior Fellow for Global Health, says food production in the developing world needs dramatic improvement and greater efficiency in “every aspect of farming, harvesting, delivery, and distribution." As for rich countries, a greater appreciation of the food crisis might be necessary.

We don't have to waste. Unless poor countries receive greater investment and rich countries avoid being liberal with the landfill, food prices are unlikely to drop.

Photo: *LJ*(flickr)

This weekend’s gathering of leaders of 20 of the world’s biggest economies didn’t yield a clear-cut solution to the global financial crisis. It did, however, signify a fundamental shift to a world where emerging economies like Brazil, India and China wield greater influence than ever before.

Of these, China is certainly the biggest. With $1.9 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, China is being courted to contribute funds to the International Monetary Fund to be used for emergency loans for struggling countries. China has made no promises yet, preferring instead to focus on its own economy with a $590 billion stimulus plan. Whether China agrees to contribute to the IMF or not, there’s no doubt that the country is poised to play a much larger role in global economic decision-making.

The breadth of China's role could depend on its ability to keep its own economy chugging along. A UN-sponsored report released over the weekend suggests China’s widening gulf between the country’s rich and poor threatens to undo recent economic gains by reducing consumer spending and productivity.

China’s stimulus package, with a focus on low-income housing and rural infrastructure, may help to shrink these growing inequalities. Since more than ever the world is looking to China to provide economic stability, they can’t afford to get this wrong.

Photo: Meanest Indian (Flickr)

Despite the many signs of progress, India’s quality of economic growth has been questioned by Unicef in its 2008 State of Asia-Pacific's Children report. According to the report, India’s poorest children are not being provided basic health care, despite the country’s impressive economic performance.

In 2006 alone, 2.1 million children under five years old died in India, giving the country an infant mortality rate of 57 per 1,000 births, one of the worst rates of child survival in the world. In fact, together China and India account for nearly a third of the child deaths in the world today.

Despite being a popular destination for medical tourism, unequal access to medical care continues to be a consequence of India's growing disparity between the rich and poor. Unicef's report found that “a child born to a family in the wealthiest fifth of the population is about three times more likely to receive all the basic vaccinations than a child born in the poorest fifth.” And it appears that the issue extends beyond economics — many women and children are also unable to access proper health care.

According to the report, "one out of every three women is underweight," putting them at risk of having low birthweight babies that "are 20 times more likely to die in infancy than healthy babies." Bloomberg.com's analysis of the report also points out that, "South Asia is the only region in the world where female life expectancy is lower than male life expectancy and where girls are more likely to be underweight than boys." Paradoxically, India also has "the world's largest number of professionally qualified women" and "more women as doctors, surgeons, scientists and professors than the United States has," according to Smile Foundation, a organization in India that targets at providing education and health to underprivileged children.

Yet no matter how robust its economy may be, unless the Indian government directly intervenes in issues of poverty and inequality plaguing the country, advancement in development may suffer. For progress to be sustainable, those who benefit from economic opportunities must not forget those left behind.