Current status of food loss and waste reduction

Current Status of Food Loss and Waste Reduction

Maximo Torero Cullen Chief Economist

POLICY SEMINAR

Loss and Waste in Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains Co-organized by IFPRI, Embassy of Denmark, and World Resource Institute MAR 14, 2023 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT

Food

Burden of Malnutrition – Global

828 million people are undernourished

More than 3.1 billion people in the world cannot afford healthy diets

SDG 12.3 SDG

149 45 39

Children <5 million stunted

45%

million wasted million overweight

Nutrient deficiency mortality has malnutrition as an underlying cause

Vitamin A deficiency affecting 500,000 childhood blindness /year

Folic acid deficiency resulting in 88,000 child deaths /year

Iron deficiency affecting millions of children’s disease/disability 0-9 /year.

Source: FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2020. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020.

020

2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

Food Loss

Food Waste

Food Loss

FOOD LOSS and WASTE: Definitions

Food Waste

Source: FAO-SOFA 2019

13.2 percent of food, valued at $400 billion is lost on an annual basis between harvest and the retail market (FAO 2019)

Global Facts and Figures

17 cent of food production is wasted in households, food services and in retail (UNEP 2020)

Food loss and waste account for approximately 8 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (UNEP 2021)

020

Globally, food losses percentage estimates by region

Food Loss Percentages globally and by region

• Globally FLP is at 13.2%

• Not much change since the first estimates of 2016 ( 13.8%)

2021

2020

2016

• In the 2021 estimates:

• Highest losses are in SSA at 19.95%

• Lowest losses are in Northern America and Europe at 9.19%

0 5 10 15 20 25

Region 2016 2020 2021 Globally 13 13.3 13.23 Northern America and Europe 9.2 9.9 9.19 Sub-Saharan Africa 20.5 21.4 19.95 Latin America and the Caribbean 12.2 12.3 14.52 Oceania (Excluding Australia and New Zealand) 13.6 14.8 12.43 Australia and New Zealand 12.6 13.6 13.93 Western Asia and Northern Africa 13.1 14.8 14.18 Eastern Asia and South-Eastern Asia 15 15.1 14.53 Small Island Developing States 16.3 17.3 18.99 Central Asia and Southern Asia 13.8 13.6 12.62 Least Developed Countries 18 18.9 16.41 Land Locked Developing Countries 14.1 14.9 14.24

Globally, food losses percentage estimates by region

Cereals and pulses

and nutrient rich foods

Food Loss Percentage by commodity group

• Highest losses in the Fruits and Veg food group at 31.15% in 2021 estimates . This is due to:

• High perishability

• Few intervention strategies

2016

2020 2021

• Lowest losses in the cereals and pulses food group at 7.23% in 2021 estimates. Could be due to:

• Lower perishability (dry grains)

Meat and Animal Products

Roots, tubers and oilbearing crops

Fruits and vegetables

• Food security crop so more interventions for loss reduction focused here.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Globally, food losses are highest for perishables

Availability of Fruits & Vegetables

• If we reduced FLW by 50%, there would be sufficient Fruits & Vegetables available in the food supply to cover the recommendations globally.

Source: FAO, The State of Food and Agriculture 2019.

Aburto (2021). Presentation on Food loss and waste and their nutritional impacts: an agrifood systems perspective

FLW Induce economic losses and reduce returns on investment

FLW Impact Food System Sustainability Sustainability

FLW impact the environment from the use of resources used to produce food and from the generation of greenhouse gas emissions

FLW impede development and hinder social progress

Reducing food loss and waste is a significant lever for broader improvements of our food systems toward improving food security, food safety, quality and sustainability and increasing efficiency.

Reducing food loss and waste is a triple win, it: increases access to healthy diets, makes efficient use of our natural resources reduces impacts on the environment.

United Nations Food Systems Summit. 2021.

https://sc-fss2021.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/SDG2

Priority areas for reducing FLW

Central and Southern Asia Cereals & Pulses Low: 0 Median: 0.4% High: 2.6% Low: 0 Median: 0.5% High: 2.1% Low: 0.1% Median: 0.5% High: 0.7% Low: 0.02% Median: 0.1% High: 0.3% Low: 0.02% Median: 0.2% High: 1.1% Fruit & Veg Low: 0 Median: 1.3% High: 7.7% Low: 0 Median: 1.4% High: 5.9% Low: 0.4% Median: 8% High: 25% Low: 0 Median: 0.03% High: 0.25% Low: 0.3% Median: 5% High: 15% Meat & Fish Global average over value chain up to but excluding retail : 12% Eastern & SE Asia Cereal & Pulses Low: 0.2% Median: 5.5% High: 18% Low: 0.3% Median: 7.2% High: 15% Low: 0.5% Median: 10% High: 15% Low: 0.5% Median: 8% High: 16% Low: 1.2% Median: 4% High: 4.5% Fruit & Veg Low: 0 Median:5.7% High: 12.5% Low: 2.5% Median: 21.3% High: 50% Low: 0.8% Median: 8.4% High: 13% Low: 0 Median: 12.5% High: 37.5% Low: 0.5 Median: 4.9% High: 12.7% Meat & Fish Global average over value chain up to but excluding retail: 12% SSA Cereals & Pulses Low: 0.1% Median: 3.7% High: 17.3% Low: 0 Median: 6.9% High: 22.5% Low: 0.1% Median: 2.3% High: 3.7% Low: 0.1% Median: 3.5% High: 20.2% No data Fruit & Veg Low: 0 Median: 15% High: 50% Low: 0.5% Median: 8.1% High: 35% Low: 0.3% Median: 2.1% High: 28% Low: 0 Median: 4.1% High: 20.5% Low: 0.2% Median: 16.3% High: 35.5% Meat & Fish Global average over value chain up to but excluding retail: 12%

On farm postharvest/ slaughter Storage Transportatio n Processing and Packaging Wholesale & Retail

Source:PreliminaryresultsbasedonLabordeandTorero(2021)

Economic Case for Reducing Food Losses

Source:PreliminaryresultsbasedonLabordeandTorero(2021)

Economic Case for Reducing Food Losses

Increasing possibilities to collect and use data

- To inform innovation strategies and approaches targeted at reducing food loss and waste. quantity of data and the possibilities to collect and use them in developing policies

Types of Innovations and Actions Needed

Innovations along the food chain that create new products services, and business models are crucial for reducing the amount and extent of food loss and waste worldwide.

Strengthening country capacities, especially developing countries, to adopt sustainable innovative approaches and technology to combat food loss and waste

There arelow cost,high impact interventionsthatcanhelphundredsof millionsofpeoplegetridofhunger. Ifwe canattractanannualinvestmentofabout $40to$50billionuntil2030tofund targetedinterventions—likeagricultural R&D,innovation , digitalagriculture, reductionoffoodlossandwaste,literacy improvementforwomen,andsocial protectionprograms’.etc . (Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General, 23 September)

FAO’s Areas of Emphasis

• ound data and evidence to track the food loss index indicator, and to serve as a basis for policy support to countries.

• Introduction of context appropriate resource efficient sustainable technologies, and innovative approaches to enhance safety and quality.

Solar Milk Cooling Technology

Plastic crates to reduce transport losses Grain Storage Cassava Press

Support smallholder uptake and use of igital technologies

 Block chain technologies to enhance food traceability

 Mobile telephones to increase access to finance.

 Online platforms for marketing, ecommerce and food delivery services

 ICT to support remote training of stakeholders

FAO’s Areas of Emphasis

Apps

Knowledge Sharing, Networking and Technical Exchange that prioritises food loss and waste reduction

food loss waste Knowledge sharing and networking

www.fao.org/platform

Thank You

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