The U.N. food agency says one-third of all food produced in the world gets wasted, amounting to a loss of $750 billion a year.

The Rome-based Food and Agricultural Organization said in a report Wednesday that food in developing countries is wasted mostly due to poor harvesting techniques, while in high-income areas the primary cause of waste is careless consumer behaviour.

The report said food waste hurts the environment by causing unnecessary carbon emissions, extra water consumption and the reduction of biodiversity as farming takes over more land. The most serious areas of waste are of cereals in Asia and meat in wealthy regions and Latin America.

FAO stressed the importance of raising awareness among consumers.