Rethinking and repurposing food losses: challenges and lessons from the field

The role of small-scale farmers in developing countries in achieving global food security and food loss prevention

Especially in recent years, one of the most evident paradoxes of the current food system — food losses and waste (FLW) — has become so visible and widespread to repurpose governmental policies and reshape markets and consumer trends.

The recent recognition of the International Day on Awareness of Food Loss and Waste by the United Nations represents one of the recent confirmations of this international consciousness, reiterated by Sustainable Development Goals, international and national declarations, and action plans across the globe.

However, beyond the widespread acknowledgment that FLW is a plague that needs to be eliminated as soon as possible, many misconceptions and uncertainties still impede these challenges from being completely solved:

• Food loss and waste are triggered by the same dysfunctions
• Counteracting food loss from larger farms in developed countries is to be prioritized because global food security depends on them.
• Developing countries totally depend on developed countries to eliminate food losses.

This article will therefore consider these false myths one by one, deep-diving into the underlying reasons for food loss, especially in developing countries. This would not have been possible without the expertise and competence of Temitope Wealth-Ekanem, co-author of this article and value chain manager within Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), an agrifood systems development organization. Given her role and position, the voices of smallholder farmers in African communities can be raised within this work, from the main challenges they face in the fields to the local solutions.

Food loss and waste are triggered by the same dysfunctions — FALSE

Despite being often confused, food loss and waste refer to dysfunctions regarding different phases of the food supply chain: from the field before it reaches the retail level (Food Loss) and from the retailer to the consumers (Food Waste).

With food loss starting at the early stage of production level, it is easy to understand that its causes vary consistently from food waste, just as those who hold the major burden of this leak.

In fact, although the causes of food losses differ by geography, context, the peculiarity of specific crops, and the stage in the value chain, it is still possible to identify common categories, common causes, and major victims.

Losses may be grouped into two different types: food that is grown but never harvested and food that is lost between harvest and sale.

Under the first category (food that is grown but never harvested), common causes include unstable and unpredictable weather; lack of sufficient labor or high labor costs; broken market dynamics that alter food prices — depreciating them; strict retail specifications regarding food esthetics or price. These are all aspects that would make it uneconomical for farmers to harvest all that they produce.

Under the second category (food that is lost between harvest and sale), common causes include poor infrastructure for storage, transportation and processing; market structures designed to separate farmers from consumers; poor handling techniques; low and volatile prices.

Why does this specification matter?

It is quite well-known today that about 14 percent of the food globally produced is lost (without considering the extra +17 percent of food wasted in the post-retail phase). Other data refer to a farming sector generating “16.7M tons of surplus produce, nearly all of which is left behind after harvesting because it’s not considered marketable”, with less than 2% being donated for hunger relief. This is a scenario now even worsened by more and more frequent climate alterations, the global pandemic, and the recent war in Ukraine, which have additionally disrupted the global food supply chain with market closures, barriers, and labor shortages.

It is given this complex matrix of factors that food loss is not yet measured consistently, which makes it challenging to understand why it’s happening or how it can better be avoided.

In any case, it is farmers, and specifically small farmers from developing countries, to be hit the most.

Counteracting food loss from larger farms in developed countries is to be prioritized because global food security depends on them — FALSE

“Three billion people live on the estimated 500 million small-scale farms in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, producing much of the food consumed in these countries” stresses the IFAD Report on rural development.

This is a percentage that is perfectly replicated also on a global scale, as almost 35 percent of the global food supply depends on small-scale farmers.

We are talking about (farming) families that are almost invisible to the global market, with less than one-two hectares of land available, mainly located in sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia, and South Asia to whom we owe more than 60 percent of global fruits and vegetables, almost 70 percent of roots and tubers.

The real paradox within this framework is that, despite the world massively relying on them to achieve global food security, they have been registering the highest percentage of food losses. According to the FAO Food Loss Index, on a regional scale, sub-Saharan Africa experienced the highest losses in 2020 (21.4 percent), a percentage that has increased compared to 2016, just as other least developed countries (LCD) and Small Island Developing States. The reasons highlighted above find here the major manifestations. Climate alterations, such as temperature warming, are already affecting massively developing countries, up to the point that climate change in Africa can soon destabilize countries and entire regions, as warned by the World Meteorological Organization.

Floodings have particularly disastrous impacts in low-income countries: “of the 170 million facing high flood risk and extreme poverty (living on under $1.90 per day), 44% are in Sub-Saharan Africa” has recently highlighted Nature, building on the already difficult challenges facing small-scale farmers in those countries to have access to land, water, finance, and new technologies. It then comes with no surprise if the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), which measures the progress towards SDG target 2.1, shows that Sub-saharan Africa has a prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity of up to 66.2% by 2020 while the world averages at 30.4% in the same year.

“I lost about two-thirds of my sorghum farm before harvest because of flooding in the community. I am not the only one affected.” — Abbaiyo, a Nigerian farmer

These are just some aspects spotlighting the real impact that food losses have on a global scale, directly affecting small-scale farmers, their survival, and the risks that this phenomenon may generate on a global scale regarding global food security.

Developing countries exclusively depend on developed countries to eliminate food losses — FALSE

The potential of eliminating (or even reducing) food losses is huge: achieving sustainable

food systems transformation, maximizing (local and global) food security, and decreasing the environmental footprint of food production. This perfectly explains why collaborative efforts and trans-disciplinary actions are an urgent need.

On the global scale, several are in fact examples of collaboration and synergies between countries, including increasing efforts and commitments from developed countries to sustain (financially and technologically) developing countries in fighting the food loss plague.

However, it is important not to confuse (horizontal) collaborations and exchange of best practices with (vertical and external) standardization attempts triggered by new forms of economic and technological dependency.

The magic of “no-one solution fits for all” is in fact perfectly demonstrated by the potential of traditional ecological knowledge from small-scale farmers that, already in most cases, offers great solutions to the issues, up to the point that ancient forms of regenerative ecosystem management are recognized as key “weapons” to fight climate change.

• Preventing food loss inevitably passes through optimization of the harvest and increased efficiency and resilience. And resilient food systems rely on small farmers’ traditional knowledge and care for diversity. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, has clearly highlighted in his recent report the urgency to “recognize, support and reward smallholder farmers/peasants and indigenous peoples as stewards of seed systems for all of humankind” because “Farmers’ seed systems make food systems more resilient against climate change, pests, and pathogens. This is because the more diverse a food system and the more dynamic the global ecosystem, the higher the chance that any one species has a particular trait that enables it to adapt to a changing environment (and in turn, pass that trait along).”

In this sense, Nigerian small-scale farmers provide great examples of farmers’ seed systems and techniques to ensure harvest resilience through neighborly community seed sharing, where neighbors exchange their normal seeds with early maturity or high-yield varieties from their neighbors.

• Optimizing the harvest also means diversifying sales channels and identifying alternative markets for crops otherwise left in the field. Also in this case African traditional knowledge has a lot to teach, even in terms of human collaboration. In fact, there are cases where grains that do not meet market standards (either because of breakage during processing or quality reduction during transportation or storage) are repurposed for animal feed. Some Nigerian farmer’s communities reuse groundnut or soybeans in this way, which is a great source of nutrients, for feeding animals. Other cases include opening the farms to members of the communities to pick fruits and crops to avoid spoilage in case of surplus on the farms or selling food that does not meet market standards at subsidized prices in the local markets.

These are precious examples of farming communities, besides great cases of loss prevention.

• Preventing and repurposing losses also involves creativity and expertise in using techniques able to prolong food shelf-life, with some of these methodologies having become part of the culture of the farming community. Drying vegetables like tomatoes and pepper and the preparation methods of some local staples like groundnut cake incorporate food loss management techniques in it. Desiccation may also involve liquids, such as the Kenyan Turkana people do by turning milk into powder through the sun-drying method. In areas such as Central Kenya, the Kikuyus is used to conserve meat by roasting it before applying natural honey on top or long storage cereals by mixing them with ash.
• Also, food fermentation, a technique used since the most ancient times, is pivotal and highly widespread in developing countries to prolong food shelf life. In fact, in countries like Sudan and many other African countries, where hot and humid climates make it difficult to store food, 60 percent of the food that makes up survival stocks is fermented and helps ensure the survival of the most fragile in times of famine, just as provide additional sources of income.

“Farmers within my community dig a ditch of about one meter in depth and two meters each in length and breadth. This ditch is used to preserve onion, yam, cocoyam, and potatoes among other crops for at least 3–4 months, reducing the spoilage time. The ditch is covered with some soil and thatch ( dry grass) with the crops in it. This has proven to be effective in the community” — Iliya, a Nigerian farmer

• Finally, compost making and nutrient cycling also represent best practices that we learn from local farming communities to repurpose losses. Besides recycling spoilt crops, especially perishables like fruits and vegetables to make compost for organic farming, farmers are also encouraged to leave the stalks of their grains in the field to promote nutrient cycling from the decomposed plants returning nutrients to the soil. These methods also have a huge potential to reduce the need for chemical fertilizers.

All these examples provide a clear explanation of the intangible value of small farmers’ traditional ecological knowledge in developing countries.

This does not mean that partnership and collaboration with developed countries should be limited. On the contrary, the complex and multi-layer challenges underlying food loss and the global geopolitics matrix requires common efforts from each country globally and all the agri-food stakeholders. Strengthening policies able to limit and prevent policies, allocating external funds to support better efficiency in the storing and processing phase, fostering innovation in the fields are all precious forms of support that can range from South-South to North-South forms of cooperation, as long as small farmers are empowered and diversity is preserved.

It is with this aim that the Future Food Institute, together with FAO, UNEP, and Food for Soul are going to organize a global activation next Thursday, September 29th, on the occasion of the International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste. That would be the occasion to gather farmers, chefs, entrepreneurs, women, youth, policymakers, leaders, community members to listen and share best practices to inspire (not impose) collective actions to end food loss and waste.

Because food loss is not just a problem of developing countries, it is a global issue.