India, April 3 -- A 2021 World Wide Fund for Nature study estimates that the world loses or wastes 2 kg of every 5 kg of food grown. An earlier Food and Agriculture Organization estimate put it at one kg in every three.

What both organisations agree on is that we are losing and wasting far too much.

Globally, food grown on an area larger than the Indian subcontinent is lost at the farm level every year. In India alone, the water embedded in food lost between farm and retail could cover household water needs for the country.

Much of the loss happens before the crop leaves the field, either because it is left unharvested, improperly harvested, or damaged in the process. Then, in much of India, unlike Punjab, markets are not close to farm...