Towards eradicating a major cause of food unavailability: on-farm losses

We are part of a world where an estimated 925 million people are undernourished as a result of ongoing hunger. One in every three children suffers stunted growth, and nearly one in every two deaths in children under five is hunger-related. Such alarming statistics seem incongruous with the fact our world actually produces sufficient food to feed all 7 billion people. Our world’s agricultural research funding is mainly dedicated to increasing food production, yet we continually overlook the causal factors of insufficient food supply, emanating from ineffective post-harvest handling and preservation practices. If hunger (responsible for more deaths every year than war or disease, and the loss of more lives than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined) is not attributable solely to inadequate production of food but rather to insufficient availability of food, why is more not being done to reduce the shameful levels of food loss occurring in developing countries? This presentation highlights how these significant food losses are a clear indication of a poorly functioning and inefficient food system. The area of highest concern (where the greatest percentage of crop losses are recorded) is pre-farm gate, where poor harvesting, drying, processing and storage of crops occurs. Recent large-scale practical implementation work with farmers has achieved very significant results in sustainably reducing food losses in sub-Saharan Africa. This has seen reductions in food losses of up to 98% for over 50,000 farming families.