Craze Of Non-Veg Food Behind The Bio-Diversity Loss Of Most Vulnerable Areas, Says WWF
When a section of society in India is busy criticizing, RSS chief Bhagwat, on the other hand, proposed the use of animal-based farming to get rid of poverty in his Dussehra speech. According to Bhagwat, ‘use of cattle, will reduce pesticide dependency and chemical fertilizer dependency’. The logic given by opposite section is falling population of male bovine in the past decade due to mechanisation of agriculture (which seems difficult to understand as lower farm sizes do not suite farm mechanisation). The real reason behind the falling population of cattle appears to be the result of the rise in demand for meat in the world. We must keep in mind that India is the biggest supplier of buffalo meat. A section of economists is busy calculating the scale of economy achieved by India’s poultry giant ‘godrej agrovet’ which may have raised upto Rs 1158 crore through its IPO.
Poignantly, the world wildlife federation during the same period had released its report on the study entitled ‘Appetite for Destruction’ that launched on Thursday at the last week during Extinction and Livestock Conference in London, in conjunction with Compassion in World Farming (CIFW), and warned of the vast amount of land needed to grow crops used for animal feed. The WWF report says ‘You may already know the effects that meat-based diets have on our planet, but did you know that the biggest impact actually comes from what we're feeding our livestock’?
The report on a very serious note said, “Today, more and more people are eating animal products such as meat & dairy. Our new report, ‘Appetite for Destruction’, highlights the impact that animal feed production is having on species, habitats and our health. In fact, our UK food supply alone is directly linked to 33 species extinctions at home and abroad.
Serious Observations
On an average, we consume between 64 and 88g of protein per day, which is well above the 45-55g recommended by nutritional guidelines. This means that in 2020, we would need an area the size of Yorkshire to produce enough soy to feed our livestock. If global demand grows as anticipated, we’d need to step up our feed production by 80 per cent, which just isn’t sustainable.
With over 23 billion chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and guinea fowl on the planet (more than three per person!), it’s not surprising that intensive farming has led to lower quality food. For example, you’d have to consume a whopping six chickens today to get the same amount of healthy omega-3 fatty acid found in just one chicken in the 1970s.
WWF has also spoken about the answers to the questions it raised. It says, ‘So how can we feed the world and have enough space for wildlife at the same time’? Simply put, we need to consume and produce food differently. If everyone ate the nutritionally recommended amount of animal products, we’d need 13 per cent less land to grow food items. This means we would save an area the size of the European Union from agricultural production.
The Live-well principles below give guidance on how to make small changes to our diets to benefit people and planet. The principals are:
1. Eat more plants; 2. Eat a variety of foods, 3. Waste less food; 4. Moderate your meat consumption; 5. Buy food that meets a credible certified standard; and 6. Eat fewer foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar.
