FAO campaigns to reduce food losses

Agriculture Reporter
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has urged governments to target investments and create incentives that will bolster confidence and reduce food losses.

This comes as the organisation estimated that sub Saharan Africa losses US$4 billion annually, with poor post-harvest handling of produce contributing to the waste.

Today marks the first ever International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste and this will be commemorated with a call to action for African countries to bolster their efforts and encourage private sector investments to reduce food losses and waste.

In a statement yesterday FAO said across Africa, the bulk of food loss happens between harvest and the point of sale and little is wasted by consumers after purchase.

“Some of the leading causes of food loss in Africa are a lack of cold chain facilities especially for perishables, unreliable and inadequate storage facilities and insufficient agro-processing skills among smallholder farming communities.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered a wake-up call for the need to radically transform our food systems to make them more efficient and sustainable for people and planet. Tackling food loss and waste, and particularly post-harvest loss reduction, in Africa is essential to achieve that goal,” FAO assistant director-general and regional representative for Africa, Abebe Haile-Gabriel, said on the eve of the international day.

According to FAO analysts, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused consumers in many low-income countries to purchase only staple carbohydrates and non-perishables, resulting in perishable food often being wasted in markets.

Physical distancing measures in some countries have reduced the number of customers in markets, also resulting in increased food losses and reduced incomes for traders.

Studies commissioned by FAO before the pandemic estimate that on-farm losses in sub-Saharan Africa for fruits and vegetables are up to 50 percent, the highest in the world. For cereals and pulses, the on-farm losses are up to 18 percent, equal highest in the world with parts of Asia.

When food is lost or wasted, all the resources that were used to produce the food, including water, land, energy, labour and capital, are also wasted.

“Reducing food losses on farms and at harvest time, particularly in countries with high levels of food insecurity, can make great inroads towards food security and improved nutrition.

“Such changes are a responsibility shared by governments, the private sector, civil society, development agencies, research and academic institutions, and consumers,” said FAO in a statement. Through a FAO project with the African Union and The Rockefeller Foundation in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, practical storage solutions such as hermetically-sealed bags that can store grain for longer, and improved crates to transport fresh fruits and vegetables to reduce damage during transportation were piloted and adopted by stakeholders.