Food shortage remains a perennial scourge facing the world particularly Africa. It is not that Africans don?t farm but most of her agricultural produce are lost to disasters especially during incidences of flooding or communal violence. The flooding that occurred in Nigeria in late 2012 due to excess release of water from the Lagdo dam of Cameroon, coupled with the intense rainfall led to submerging of thousands of produce like cassava and cereals which form the bulk of the food products of the affected part. The resulting shortage of that incident still bites deep into late 2013.

Besides foods lost to uncontrollable parameters, tons of thousands of fruits and vegetables perish daily in the market due to poor handling and inadequate storage facilities. I find it hard curtailing my tears after each visit to our local markets because of the pile of decomposing oranges and tomatoes and several other fresh leafy vegetables that greets my sight in the refuse bin located in those markets. Most of the local traders are too calculative, hence, insensitive to the life span of these fruits and vegetables. They hike the prices of these foods so that only a few can afford them and when they go bad, they throw them away.

Gluttony is another social behaviour exhibited by majority of the world population that leads to massive food wastage. Using my dear country Nigeria as a case study, pot-bellies are often erroneously synonymous with wealth or fondly called evidence of good living. Today, almost every street corner has been turned into beer parlours or 'joints' for short. Many of these eat-till-you-explode houses have found their way into my vicinity. Men and women of class arrive in fleets of cars from dusk till the dead of the dark. Bottles of beers and cat fishes nicknamed 'point and kill' pay the price of their daily visits.

Some eat beyond their stomach carrying capacity while others take out a little of the food, leaving a larger proportion of it on the plate, what some people term courteous way of eating in the open. These left overs are discarded into a dustbin by the waiters. Few months ago, I escaped being bathed with vomit along one of the joints when a bald man kitted in native beautifully patterned light green Senegalese began throwing up the moment he walked past me. The slimy substance of his vomit composed largely of undigested rice, lumps of mashed meat and beer. I shook my head at the sight and pondered on the amount of food wasted daily in similar manner all over the country and world at large.

As I observed, idle minds consume more. I discovered recently that am frequently gripped by hunger and yearn for more food and in-between snacks on days I am faced with less work particularly if I had to spend the entire day indoors. On such days, I eat as much as five, six times and wonder if there was something in my tummy taking the food the moment I gulp them down in one bolus. However, on active days like days I have to spend close to 8hrs in school teaching, I get so preoccupied that I don't even feel it when I skip my lunch. My breakfast composing mainly of tea and few slices of bread drives me unbelievably into late evenings on such days. I used to think am the sole victim of the idle mind, more food syndrome till a friend of mine confessed of being plagued by same experience.

In my personal effort to curtail food wastage, I ensure a busy schedule. Recently, I mapped out a daily time table for myself which I adhere strictly to. The idea has enabled me slice out long idle moments that will prompt hunger games. When I finally sit to eat, I take in just enough needed by my body and not more. Even when I eat in restaurants, I make sure to empty my plates to the last grain of rice irrespective of the thought of onlookers. Fruits and vegetables form the bulk of my diet because I know the carbohydrates and proteins will store longer. Two of the gluttons in my area have been lured into my friend list for a conversation to try dissuading them from the practice. It has proven almost impossible to reach the government who has huge role to slice the amount of food wasted annually through erection of more processing industries. 

Currently, my State of residence in one of the North Central States of Nigeria (which has the slogan ?Food Basket Of The Nation?) boosts of not a single food processing industry notwithstanding the volume of food harvested annually. Inasmuch as I lack the financial wherewithal to take up such capital projects where the government failed to do so, I will keep sending out my opinion in media houses and reputable magazines hoping soon, someone with the right asset will buy the idea into reality.