Food loss and wastage in the time of COVID-19

The 29th September is marked as the UN’s International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW). The goal for this day is to promote awareness and action in achieving sustainable development goal (SDG) target, 12.3: “Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns.” This SDG focuses specifically on halving per capita food wastage at consumer and retail level by 2030, and significantly decreasing food losses at certain supply chain touchpoints. The reality of the situation could be a bitter pill to swallow when looking at the future, global demand for food – predictions show that we need to increase food production by at least 70% in order to adequately feed the population by 2050, but almost 20% of the food produced worldwide is wasted or thrown out before it even reaches the market.

When looking at Africa, food loss predominantly occurs between harvest and point of sale, attributed mainly to a lack of suitable storage and cold chain facilities as well as insufficient agro-processing capacity. Notably, it can’t be overlooked that when food is wasted, it essentially negates all the resources that were utilised to produce it for e.g., labour, water, land, capital investment, labour etc. What’s more, decomposing food actually contributes to climate change through the release of methane – research suggests that 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are linked to unconsumed food.

Food for thought…

Are we, in fact, biting off more than we can chew? Well, pre-pandemic research, conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), showed that sub-Saharan African farm losses went up as high as 50% for vegetable and fruit, a record percentage when compared to the rest of the globe. A recent South African study conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has revealed that approximately 10.3 million tons of food annually does not make it to consumption stage. Further stats align with current trends, showing that 67% of food loss and wastage in the country occurs during early production.

The 2021 Food Waste Report, which analyses 152 food waste data points in 54 countries, estimates that every Kenyan throws away at least 99kg of food annually, with the country being ranked as “medium confidence” in its commitment to addressing the issue. Additional countries with the same ranking include South Africa, Rwanda, Zambia, Ethiopia and Nigeria. The only country on the continent marked as “high confidence”? Ghana, with an estimated food wastage of 2,555,332 tons a year.

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has had a significant impact on food loss, but perhaps not in the way you might think. Over and above supply chain and transport delays, the pandemic has actually resulted in some consumers prioritising the purchase of non-perishables and staple foods over fresh and perishable stock. Of course, social distancing has meant less market and retail customers further exacerbating the problem.

Low hanging fruit

Wastage and loss of food is a challenge globally, particularly for low-income countries. Food loss not only hinders availability of food supply, but also reduces farmer incomes and necessitates overproduction to account for lost produce, thus putting additional strains on land, water and the environment. What can be done to effectively curb food loss and wastage?

1.  There is a significant need for additional investment and support to close the gap to bring about positive economic and environmental impacts. While developments in infrastructure and cold chains are helping, use of digital matchmaking technology is also improving supply-chain efficiency, yielding more easily adoptable, cost-effective solutions.
2. Focus needs to be placed on sustainable efforts and innovations that help reduce food loss across the supply chain. This includes the use of apps like Uber, and the same innovations and platform tactics - now being deployed to tackle food loss. Food-brokering apps like Karma (founded in Sweden) and Too Good to Go are connecting consumers to cut-price local meals and food products that are within shelf-life but will otherwise be tossed owing to supply and demand mismatches. In India, a business-to-business food-broker model has emerged. Ninjacart, an online platform that connects farmers, manufacturers and brands, and processes over 500 tonnes of food a day. It has helped farmers to increase revenue by 20%, gives competitive prices to stores and provides fully traceability of produce for consumers.33,34 Big tech companies are also deploying data science to tackle food loss.
3. Off-grid cooling technology is improving in efficiency and cost, helping to protect supply chains in heat-stressed countries. Governments are also stepping up to the challenge. The falling costs of satellites have seen resource-constrained countries able to monitor weather systems and agriculture from space for the first time.
4. Driving consumer awareness campaigns, aimed at educating shoppers about food labelling, including the difference between “use-by” and “best before.” While bulk buying may seem like a good idea at the time (who doesn’t love a bargain?) most 3 for 2 purchases end up sitting in household pantries untouched.
5. Consumers need to be reminded about the negative impacts of food wastage and be encouraged to think more about what they buy, how they handle and store food and how much money they can actually save in the long-run.

In a nutshell, food wastage affects producers, consumers, economies and our planet; lets do everything we can to ensure progress for generations to come. Corteva Agriscience is committed to working with others to support and strengthen food systems and the environment through innovation and investment along the value-chain. This includes investment in food transport, storage and cooling assets among others, to build a seamless cold chain to reduce food waste and improve the efficiency of the food system.  At a local level, an efficient cold chain empowers farmers by giving them more control over the timing of sale of their perishable produce.

It is not enough to increase yield – we must also increase the value of crops, improve opportunities for farmers to access markets, and increase income for rural businesses and entrepreneurs that support agriculture.