Bangladesh wastes 630,000 tonnes of rice a year through "luxury", in serving food at social events, in households and in other ways. The rice wasted could meet the year-round needs of more than 4,000 people, according to the study, and a little awareness could save this huge amount from going to waste.

The finding comes from a study by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI). BRRI recently presented its research on rice production and use in the country digitally to a parliamentary committee.

Two bases are used to estimate rice demand: human consumption and non-human consumption. Human consumption, including each person's daily meals of cooked rice, accounts for 73.78 percent of total demand. Of this, rice eaten as food, including 0.44 percent for the Rohingya, is 66.65 percent; puffed rice (muri) 5.01 percent; flattened rice (chira) 0.91 percent; popped rice (khoi) 0.36 percent; and pitha and bakery products 0.86 percent.

Non-human consumption, covering seed, animal feed and other uses, accounts for 26.22 percent. This includes seed at 1.52 percent, feed and other industrial uses at 5.15 percent, harvest losses at 5.20 percent, post-harvest losses at 7.10 percent and processing at 7.25 percent.

BRRI says in the study that 5.5 percent of the rice people eat is wasted at household level. Of this waste, 3 percent occurs while obtaining and preparing food, 1.4 percent while serving and 1.1 percent on the plate.

The study names ignorance and a luxurious mindset as the main causes of household waste.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.