Post-harvest food losses have been with us for as long as humans have cultivated land for agriculture. But today, in an era when we have the technology and knowledge to stem these losses – and with 821 million [1] people who do not have enough to eat each day and the earth’s natural resources under pressure from climate change and population growth – it is unacceptable that so much food never makes it from the farm to the shop.
According to the most recent estimates, approximately 14 per cent of total food production is lost before it reaches the market, [2] but the magnitude of these food losses varies significantly across different regions and value chains. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, an estimated 13.5 [3] per cent of all grain crops, and up to 50 per cent of all fruit and vegetables [4] are lost after harvest. Reducing the loss of grains alone would save US$4 billion [5] a year and meet the annual caloric requirements of more than 48 million [6] people.
In poor rural communities of developing countries, however, very little food goes to waste, and all food that is lost is wasted; food that isn’t eaten or sold is often used for animal feed, or turned into compost and ploughed back into the soil.
Food loss can occur for a variety of reasons, which differ widely across commodities and regions. For example, bad weather can curtail the harvest, or crops can rot in the field when there are insufficient workers to harvest and dry the crop on time. Market forces also play a role, with price fluctuations sometimes making it uneconomical for farmers to harvest and sell what they have grown. At the storage level, produce can be contaminated by pests and molds, especially aflatoxins. During transport, fresh fruit and vegetables can spoil as a result of physical damage due to poor packing materials or inadequate refrigeration. Animal products can be contaminated through inefficient and unhygienic processing methods.
In sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that one-third of the population lives at least five hours away from the nearest market town of 5,000 people. [7] This means that produce has to be transported over long distances and often over bumpy, unpaved roads, before being sold. High levels of food loss occur when farmers are unable to get their produce to market because the roads are impassible or transportation costs are too high.
In order to combat food loss to meet our commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, and at the same time contribute to the first two Sustainable Development Goals to end extreme poverty and hunger, we need to pay more attention to the needs of the small-scale farmers in developing countries.
The world’s small-scale farms produce half of all food calories on 30 per cent [8] of the world’s agricultural land. In Africa and much of Asia, small-scale farms are the rule rather than the exception, providing essential employment and income for upwards of 60 per cent [9] of the rural population.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has long recognized that reducing food losses can make a significant contribution to sustainable rural development by improving food security, nutrition, food safety, and income generation. As some of the interventions outlined below demonstrate, what appear to be small changes to the way food is stored and handled can greatly reduce the volume of food loss.
Between 2013 and 2016 IFAD invested US$433 million [10] to minimize food losses along food supply chains. These investments supported improvements in transport and storage facilities, the purchase of equipment for the processing and handling of food after harvest, and the training of farmers and others involved in the food value chain.
Timor-Leste, in Southeast Asia, is one of the poorest countries in the world but with a fast-growing population. Around 40 per cent of the population are under 14 years old. [11] More than half of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition. [12] The annual “hungry season”, when food is hard to come by, lasts for 3.9 months and affects 95 per cent of rural households. A second hungry season of 3.6 months affects nearly one-third of the rural population.
The main crop in Timor-Leste is maize, accounting for more than one-third of food production. Traditionally, farmers hang the maize cobs on racks or in trees after harvest to complete drying, and then store the cobs in a loft above the kitchen fire, in a storage barn on stilts or suspended in a tree. As much as 15 per cent of the harvest stored this way – some 31,250 metric tonnes worth about $17.5 million – is lost annually to damage from rodents and weevils.
An IFAD-supported programme distributed 41,337 steel drums to 23,000 maize-growing households from 2011 to 2015. The drums were selected for their proven ability to reduce on-farm storage losses and for their suitability to the local context. The drums can be hermetically sealed, which kills off any potential pests and eliminates the need for further treatment (e.g. with pesticides) to prevent insect attack. This simple technology, with a life span of 25 years, is a very cost-effective and effective way to reduce grain losses, even for poor farmers.
Previous government programmes supplying free storage drums in Timor-Leste had underperformed, mainly because the drums were either mis-used or not used at all by beneficiaries. To encourage farmers to value the drums and use them effectively, the IFAD-supported project required beneficiaries to contribute $10, which the project then matched with an additional $40. As a result, there was a high rate of appropriate use among poor rural households, with 93 per cent used correctly for maize storage.
Among farmers who adopted the drums, maize storage losses dropped below 1 per cent from 15 per cent, resulting in each family having an additional 80 kilograms of staple food. The number of households experiencing a first hungry season fell to 33 per cent from 95 per cent; and to 6 per cent from 31 per cent for the second hungry season. The rates of childhood malnutrition also declined as a result.
In addition to protecting stored grains against pests, the drums reduced the risk of contamination by moisture-reliant pathogens; as a result of the intervention, the project area now has the lowest occurrence of mycotoxin in the country. For the farmers, the investment in the subsidized drums generated a 300 per cent return, rising to 400 per cent with the introduction of new maize varieties promoted by the programme’s partner Seeds of Life.
One of the leading causes of food loss associated with inadequate storage facilities is lack of access to markets. It can be particularly problematic for valuable but highly perishable foods such as fish and dairy that need to be transported efficiently and safely, without the risk of spoilage or other losses. As a response, in Kenya and Mozambique, IFAD invested in two quite different food projects that reduced losses by making markets more accessible to small-scale producers.
Milk is big business in Kenya: its production, processing and distribution represent 4 per cent of the economy. [13] Yet, for all its scale, the Kenyan dairy industry remains a local business with 80 per cent of output coming from small-scale producers. The milk trade is a vital employer as well as a contributor to the cash economy, but it suffers from weak infrastructure. Farms are remote and roads to market are inadequate and poorly maintained. Milk processing equipment for cooling and pasteurizing is often absent, creating serious hygiene problems in the informal dairy trade. The lack of processing facilities results in deterioration, with loss of quality, volume and value for farmers and traders.
An IFAD study found that 2.7 million litres of milk worth more than half a million dollars were lost every year due to poor infrastructure in the Rift Valley and Western and South Nyanza regions. Further studies showed that poor roads and inadequate milk collection centres were the main factors behind milk marketing inefficiencies and high post-harvest losses.
Between 2005 and 2019, IFAD supported a US$40 million programme aimed at fostering market-driven development of Kenya’s informal dairy industry. In addition to working with dairy groups to improve their capacity to market their milk and dairy products, and to enable access to equipment for pasteurization and cooling, the programme also worked with county governments to improve 2,000 kilometers of rural roads and install milk handling and cooling facilities in the programme areas. The investments helped reduce milk losses by 26 per cent in the project area, with an annual economic gain of about US$240,000.
Lack of infrastructure is also a significant cause of food loss in artisanal fisheries. In Mozambique, small-scale artisanal fishing generates about 9 per cent of the total marine catch and supports the livelihood of around 334,000 people. Most fishing communities are small, isolated and poor. Post-harvest losses affect fishing operations at all levels of the value chain: fresh fish deteriorates quickly due to limited availability of ice and insulated containers. Fish that is salted, dried or smoked is lost because of inadequate processing equipment, especially during the rainy season. More product is lost during transport as a result of poor local roads and lack of refrigerated trucks. And at the final point of sale, lack of ice or cold-storage facilities in local markets results in further losses.
To stem the losses and improve incomes, a recently completed IFAD-supported project trained 13,000 fishers in improved handling, processing and conservation of fresh and frozen fish. Sixteen fish markets were restored and 15 more were constructed in the programme area, each with sanitation facilities, water and electricity.
To link fishing communities to markets, the project funded the improvement of 525 kilometers of roads. A further 127 kilometers of electricity lines were constructed to connect the fish markets to the national grid, while eight markets were provided with solar panel systems for ice making and cold storage.
The resulting increase in access to ice and refrigerators has contributed to improving the quality of the fish and reducing losses, while better roads have reduced transportation costs and allowed better access to markets. As a result, the value of fish quadrupled in the project area.
Reducing food loss may seem like a relatively straightforward objective. But as the 2019 State of Food and Agriculture report notes, actual implementation is not simple [14] because food systems are a complex web connecting many different elements including nutrition, water management, marine resources, terrestrial ecosystems, food access, food prices, and even cultural heritage. As a result, an action taken in one area may have an unanticipated impact elsewhere in the food system.
For example, the adoption of cold storage and plastic packaging, while effective in reducing food loss, may lead to an increase in the total energy use and environmental footprint of food. Environmental trade-offs can be minimized by adapting climate-sensitive approaches and technologies, such as green cold storage options and reusable or compostable packaging.
In Rwanda, agriculture is the leading economic activity, employing more than 70 per cent of the country’s workforce. Despite government investment and significant improvements in agricultural productivity, post-harvest losses are high. Recent changes in rainfall patterns during the harvesting season are leading to increased crop losses during drying and storage, as well as higher incidence of aflatoxin contamination.
IFAD is currently supporting an US$83 million climate-resilient Post-harvest and Agribusiness Support Project (PASP) to introduce pro-poor and climate-resilient approaches to post-harvest activities at a time when Rwanda is increasingly affected by climatic uncertainty. The project has co-financed more than 414 business plans to date, submitted by farmers’ organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises for climate-smart post-harvest investments.
Smallholder households have gained access to improved technologies for climate-resilient drying, processing, value addition, packaging, storage, logistics and distribution, reducing their losses and improving their resilience to climate change. Further funding was provided through IFAD’s The Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) to upgrade and climate-proof existing post-harvest facilities and support the design of more climate-proof post-harvest infrastructure. This includes the installation of ground and underground rainwater harvesting and storage systems, solar energy to provide light and power to warehouses, waste treatment systems, and machines designed for producing biodegradable bags.
In order to scale-up the impact of interventions and ensure a sustainable reduction of food loss worldwide, better data and policies are needed both at the national and global level. The collection of accurate data is key to ensuring that interventions are targeted and effective – and that they do not have any unintended negative side-effects. Reliable data is also important to help measure impact and progress towards SDG target 12.3 to halve per capital global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses by 2030.
There is also a need for policies and actions to develop rural infrastructure so farmers can get food safely and in good condition to market. Farmers have little incentive to invest in higher productivity or post-harvest storage and safer transport packaging if much of their produce is lost during shipment, or if the bulk of financial returns go to the trader and not the farmer. Yet national strategies addressing food loss are a rarity, and often governments lack the expertise and resources to incorporate evidence-based information into agricultural strategies.
The United Nations’ Rome-based agencies are addressing this challenge through a joint project between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Food Programme, and IFAD. The project is designed to fill in the knowledge and policy gaps in three African countries – Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda – while also contributing to raising worldwide awareness of existing solutions to food loss.
In the first phase, the project carried out detailed analysis to identify critical loss points for crops along the value chain. The results of the food loss analysis have enabled each country to integrate food loss reduction into its agriculture and development policy frameworks, while at the global level the project established a Community of Practice to share knowledge on the subject. This is just one example of the steps we can take to fill policy and data gaps.
Financing is another critical issue. We need to look at how to increase access to rural finance to allow households to invest in food loss reduction – such as using hermetic storage drums or bags that prevent grain pest infestation during storage. And we also need to consider how to meet the financing needs of small and medium-sized rural businesses.
Funding is also required to make improvements. Only 10 per cent of rural communities have access to even the most basic formal financial services. Improving access to financing requires partnerships with the private sector and governments. IFAD recognizes this and together with partners, recently sponsored the ABC Fund which was launched with partners European Union, the Asia, Caribbean and Pacific group of states (ACP), the Government of Luxembourg and AGRA. This impact fund seeks to stimulate private-sector investments in small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas.
We are also exploring new options, such as a dedicated private sector financing programme that will crowd-in private sector investments and leverage private sector know-how and innovation to deliver scaled-up impact for small-scale producers and rural communities.
Conclusion
We need food systems that are inclusive of all members of society, that are profitable for small-scale producers, that provide sufficient and nutritious food for all, and that are sustainable and resilient. Reducing food losses along the value chain may not be a “quick win”, but by stopping the loss of food that is already produced, it can contribute significantly to reshaping our food systems, and in the process contribute to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, especially on zero hunger and no poverty.
End notes
[1] 2019 The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI), p. 6.
[2] FAO The State Of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2019, p. 8
[3] http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTARD/Resources/MissingFoods10_web.pdf p. 18.
[4] 2019 SOFA Figure 6b (Page 26)
[5] http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTARD/Resources/MissingFoods10_web.pdf p. xiii
[6] Ibid.
[7] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f2cb/d3f72cb333c1cc6fd3eba6d5bc8bb8c89469.pdf p.18.
[8] Samberg et al. 2016. Subnational distribution of average farm size and smallholder contributions to global food production. Environmental research letters Vol 11 (12). http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/12/124010/meta
[9] 2017 The State of Food and Agriculture (FAO), p. 68.
[10] The Food Loss Reduction Advantage, IFAD, 2019, p. 7.
[11] https://theodora.com/wfbcurrent/timorleste/timorleste_people.html
[12] The Food Loss Reduction Advantage, IFAD, 2019, p. 9.
[13] The Food Loss Reduction Advantage (IFAD) 2019 p. 19.
[14] SOFA 2019, page xii.