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| Title
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Food Losses
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| Subtitle
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For sustainable resource use from field to fork
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| Author
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Bruno Schuler, Karl Moosmann, Maria Höhne, Tanja Pickardt Williams
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| Editor or Organisation
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giz GmbH
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| Year
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2016
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| Keywords
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Food Losses, Value Chains, Problems, Solutions, RLAT
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| Country
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Germany
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| Type
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publication
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| Language
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English
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| Table of Contents
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1. Problems & solutions
2. Food Losses & value chains
3. Internat. initiatives to reduce food losses
4. Losses and poisoning as a result of aflatoxin
5. Analysing and quantifying food losses.
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| Abstract
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The Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that around 30 per cent of all food is lost or wasted after harvesting. This translates into inefficient use of limited natural resources such as water, land and biodiversity.
It is important to ask how losses on this scale arise and why producers, processors and consumers allow it to happen. These questions have not yet been explored in depth, but some plausible explanations have been put forward. The decline in investment in rural areas over many years provides the structural basis for food loss. Furthermore, the low prices paid to
producers in recent decades have given farmers no incentive to invest in storage capacity and other upgrades. Producer prices are now rising, presenting an opportunity for small-scale producers to find a renewed courage to invest.
A renewed attempt to reduce food losses must consider the entire value chain from the field to the consumer, exploring the losses and efficiency potentials. This means that not only the producers but also a wide range of stakeholders in the public and private sectors must be approached and conferred with.
Communication and collaboration between development cooperation, businesses, NGOs and researchers is essential in order to address this complex issue effectively and contribute to global food security.
This document explores the issue of food loss in ore detail and presents current experiences, challenges and areas of action.
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| Permission
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Yes
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| Category
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| File
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