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Agricultural Economics and Food Policy in Developing Countries
- 2. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Food Losses and Food Waste 3. Food Losses in Developing Countries 4. Root Causes and Consequences of Food Losses in the Developing World 5. Conclusions 1
- 3. 1. Introduction Eradicating hunger and achieving global food security for the world’s growing population seems to be one of the main global challenges of the XXI century, as well as a key goal for the international community to achieve within the next fifteen years (United Nations, 2015). Many different actors have been at the forefront of the fight against hunger and food insecurity throughout the last five decades or so, from United Nations agencies to national governments, and including research establishments, CSOs and NGOs. Donors and governments have been particularly focusing on the need to increase the global food production as one of the possible pathways to achieve global food security. Hence, they have been advocating for policies and projects aimed at increasing productivity in the agriculture and fishery sectors, especially in the developing world. However, increasing food production alone might not be sufficient to meet the challenge of feeding a growing world’s population. Estimates provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in a 2014 report inform us that a large quantity of the globally produced food is either lost or wasted along the Food Supply Chain (FAO, 2014). According to these recent studies, 30 percent of cereals, 40–50 percent of crops, fruits and vegetables, 20 percent of oilseeds, meat and dairy products, and 35 percent of fish are lost globally on an yearly basis (FAO, 2014). This means that at least one quarter of the global food production never reaches the consumer it was produced for. It is hence admissible to think that, if food losses were to be addressed and reduced, this could result into an increase in food availability and, consequently, contribute to achieving global food security. As one scholar argues, “concomitant with the increased efforts in food production there should be increased effort expended in caring for that food so that it reaches the ultimate consumer” (Bourne, 1977). In the following paragraphs we will give a brief conceptual overview on food losses and waste. Then, we will analyse the issue of food losses across the Food Supply Chain in the developing world, with focus on the main root causes that have been identified so far. Finally, we will propose potential solutions for addressing the problem of food losses in developing countries and recommendations for reducing them, with a view of contributing to the eradication of food insecurity in the Global South. 2
- 4. 2. Food Losses and Food Waste The term “Food losses” refers to the reduction in the availability of edible food, which may take place at the production, postharvest and processing stages of the Food Supply Chain (Parfitt et al., 2010). Those losses which specifically take place at the food distribution and consumption level and therefore depend mainly on retailers’ and consumers’ behavior are rather labelled as “food waste” (Parfitt et al., 2010). As the term “Postharvest losses” is also defined as the degradation in the quantity and/or quality of food production available, occurring at some point between harvest and consumption phase, we will here use both terms interchangeably. The figure below gives a visual account of all stages included in the Food Supply Chain. Fig.1 Food pipeline from harvest to consumption Source: Agromisa Foundation & CTA Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACPEU (2011). Storage of Agricultural Products. Food losses can be further classified between quantitative and qualitative typologies. Quantitative losses, which have higher occurrence in developing and lowincome countries, refer to those that result directly in the reduction of the quantity of edible food available. On the other hand, qualitative losses indicate “those that affect the nutrient composition, the acceptability, and the edibility of a given product” and are much more difficult to measure (ACF, 2014). While quantitative postharvest losses are mostly common in lowincome and developing countries, qualitative food losses have a much higher incidence in industrialized regions of the world. 3
- 5. 3. Food Losses in Developing Countries Recent estimates have established that roughly onethird of global food production for human consumption is lost or wasted along the Food Supply Chain, which translates into approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food becoming inedible (CTA, 2012). However, the kind of food losses and waste typical of the developing world greatly differs from those occurring in highincome and industrialized countries. As shown by the table below, which has been elaborated by FAO in a 2011 study, per capita food losses in the Global South mostly occur in the early phases of the Food Supply Chain, from production to retailing stage. According to this data, percapita food wasted by consumers at the very last stage of the Food Supply Chain has a much higher incidence in industrialized countries than it has in developing ones. More specifically, percapita food waste at consumption level in Europe and NorthAmerica is estimated at 95115 kg/year, while this figure in subSaharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia is significantly lower, being approximately at 611 kg/year (FAO, 2011). Evidence suggests that, in most lowincome countries, food losses are highly likely to occur in the early stages of the Food Supply Chain due to several factors: poor storage facilities, poor infrastructure and transportation means, inadequate market facilities and poor packaging (ACF,2014). In all these contexts, lack of appropriate refrigeration, conservation and sanitary measures seem to play a key role in making parts of the food production inedible. 4
- 6. Source: FAO, (2011). Global food losses and food waste – Extent, causes and prevention. 4. Root Causes and Consequences of Food Losses in the Developing World According to a recent study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the main causes of postharvest losses in lowincome countries are connected to fundamental limitations with regards to the appropriateness of harvesting procedures, storage facilities, infrastructure available, packaging and marketing systems. For instance, fresh perishable products such as fruits and meat can easily be spoilt and lost in hot and humid climatic areas if the cooling, storage and transportation facilities are not adequate (Stuart, 2009). Such limitations in the facilities and infrastructure available to the smallscale producers in lowincome countries may be due to financial, technical and management constraints, depending on the specific case taken into account (FAO, 2011). More specifically, food losses could occur throughout the harvesting process due to inappropriate and inefficient harvesting tools, methods and techniques, as well as due to the prematurity and untimeliness of the harvest itself. Furthermore, food is often spoilt and lost during storage and transportation mainly because of rudimentary and unsanitary storage facilities and transportation vehicles, as well due to a fundamental lack of infrastructure which characterizes most lowincome countries (ACF, 2014). In the subsistence farming systems of smallholders and familyfarmers, which are widely prevalent across rural areas in developing countries, quantitative postharvest losses result directly in less food being available for the households’ consumption, hence contributing to higher levels of food insecurity (FAO, 2014). Therefore, given that many smallholder farmers, fishers and herders in lowincome countries live on the margins of food insecurity and undernutrition, a considerable reduction in the level of postharvest losses could have an immediate impact on their livelihoods by increasing food availability . (FAO, 2011) 5. Conclusions The strategic importance of reducing food losses and waste for increasing food security has been officially recognised by the United Nations, which has included the goal of food losses’ 5
- 7. eradication as a fifth element in the “Zero Hunger Challenge”. This is extremely relevant especially in the context of developing countries, where the majority of the world’s food insecure people is located. But what can concretely be done to reduce postharvest food losses in lowincome countries? Firstly, there seems to be an urgent need for increased capacitybuilding activities and knowledge transfer to smallscale food producers in developing countries, with a view to upgrade their technical capacity to reduce food losses along the whole Food Supply Chain. Moreover, investments should be allocated to the improvement of food storage facilities in accordance to the local climatic and environmental conditions, hence including proper refrigeration, conservation and cooling chain systems. Additional strategic investments and policies should target food packaging, transportation and logistics management, to avoid food being spoilt and lost during transportation from producers to consumers. Investments should also be focused on upgrading infrastructure and market facilities, which are often rudimentary and unsanitary in lowincome countries, both in rural and urban areas. Last but not least, for the sake of longterm sustainability, future privateled investments in this area should be accompanied by locallysupported government policies at regional, national and local level. 6