UN agro agencies to fight global food losses

Around one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted each year, amounting to 1.3 billion tonnes – or enough food to feed two billion people.
A joint statement by FAO, IFAD and WFP said the three UN agencies will work together on the $2.7 million project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation to target food losses in developing countries, which can occur during harvesting, processing, transportation and storage as a result of inadequate infrastructure or lack of skills and technology.
In particular, the three-year project will focus on reducing losses of grains and pulses such as maize, rice, beans and cow peas – staple foods that play a significant role in global food security and have a major impact on the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers.
According to a 2011 report by the World Bank, FAO and the United Kingdom’s Natural Resources Institute, grain losses in sub-Saharan Africa alone are worth potentially $4 billion a year and could meet the minimum annual food requirements of at least 48 million people.
At a global level, the joint initiative will share knowledge on the most effective ways to reduce post-harvest losses and help countries introduce policies and regulations to cut down on wastage at national and regional level.
The project will also identify critical points for losses in pulse and grain supply chains in three African pilot countries – Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda – and identify and best potential solutions to issues such as ineffective harvesting and handling, storage moisture levels, attacks by rats, birds and other pests, and insect damage.
The UN project will contribute both to the Millennium Development Goal of improving food security and to the Zero Hunger Challenge launched in June 2012 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which includes zero loss or waste of food as one of its main elements.