Vandana Singh, Director of India FoodBanking Network, was one of the expert speakers at the 6th Agri Business Conclave and Awards. She spoke on one of the most pressing yet paradoxical issues of our time—hunger amid abundance.
Highlighting the scale of the problem, she remarked, “India and actually even the world is self-sufficient in food. We grow sufficient food to feed everybody. And yet, about 733 million people globally are hungry. They do not have access to sufficient food.” At the same time, nearly 30% of food produced—whether cereals or fresh fruits and vegetables—is wasted. This dual crisis forms the heart of IFBN’s mission: to recover surplus food and redirect it to those who need it most.
Over the last 12 to 13 years, IFBN has expanded its presence across 62 cities in India. These city-level food banks operate as not-for-profit entities and work with the food industry, fresh produce markets, and increasingly, with farmers. Singh pointed out that many food companies remove products from circulation one to two months before the “best before” date, even though the food remains perfectly edible. “That is actually destroyed or goes into animal feed,” she said.
She explained that there is a hierarchy of preferred actions when dealing with surplus food. “The best thing, of course, is that we should prevent food from going to waste,” Singh emphasised, noting the urgent need to improve transportation, storage, and processing infrastructure. “We also need to develop our food processing industries so that we can process the surplus food and utilise it over a period of time.” However, when waste cannot be prevented, the next best approach is timely recovery and redistribution to feed people. “Only when the food becomes inedible should it go for animal feed or composting or into others like biogas,” she added.
The recovered food is distributed in underprivileged communities, in schools, old age homes, and homeless shelters. Singh proudly mentioned, “At the moment, we are partnered with a lot of food companies. So, almost all the major food companies like ITC, Britannia, Mondelez, Nestle—they all partner with us, and they give us their surplus produce, which we distribute to people in need.” IFBN has also begun work with wholesale markets like Azadpur Mandi in Delhi and others across India to collect unsold fresh produce and direct it toward feeding programs.
Singh also addressed the challenge of malnutrition, which persists alongside hunger in India. She acknowledged the importance of not only providing food but also ensuring its nutritional value. IFBN is inspired by the global food bank model, adapting it to India’s unique conditions and challenges. Despite their extensive reach, she acknowledged that no single organisation can tackle this issue alone. “We feel that this one organisation can’t deal with the entire surplus of packaged food and fresh produce across the country. We need many, many more such organisations, and we need to all collaborate,” she said.
The strength of IFBN lies in its collaborative approach. “We’ve been collaborating with academia, with corporates, of course, and also government. And we look forward to suggestions and collaborations with those present today,” Singh concluded, inviting active participation from stakeholders across sectors. Her call to action was both urgent and hopeful—an appeal to work together toward a future where no edible food is wasted, and no person goes to bed hungry.
