Cutting food loss and waste can deliver big wins for countries’ food security and environment

Investments that reduce food loss and waste can deliver big wins on two pressing issues of our time: food security and environmental sustainability, according to a new World Bank report. But the results are not automatic – countries need well-targeted solutions.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted domestic supply chains, causing some farmers to destroy unsold crops, about a third of all food produced annually was lost at the farming, transport, and processing stages or wasted at the retail and consumer levels. A new World Bank report and four country case studies analyze why food loss and waste has been difficult for countries to manage and propose country-specific and even commodity-specific solutions.

“Strategies to reduce food loss and waste can deliver multiple benefits,” said Juergen Voegele, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development. “Together with other policies and investments, these strategies can play a major part in helping countries improve the health of their people, economies, and environment.”

By adopting the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, countries committed to help halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses, by 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal 12.3). But progress has been patchy at best. Authors of Addressing Food Loss and Waste: A Global Problem with Local Solutions argue that trade-offs between food affordability, rural livelihoods, and sustainable use of natural resources can only be avoided if they are first identified and then addressed with clear policy priorities in mind.

When food is grown only to be discarded, precious natural resources are used and unnecessary pollution is generated. Greenhouse gas emissions arise from the process of growing food that is not consumed and from decomposing organic matter. Emissions related to food loss and waste account for an estimated 8% of total global emissions, making progress in this area a promising avenue for mitigating climate change.

Reducing food loss and waste can also improve food security. While keeping food prices artificially low to address food insecurity is a common approach by governments in low- and middle-income countries, this comes at a cost as low prices do not reflect the true environmental costs of producing food and create disincentives for conserving resources. Reducing food loss and waste can increase the supply of food and therefore make it more affordable for consumers without increasing production and further stressing natural resources.

Read the report: Addressing Food Loss and Waste: A Global Problem with Local Solutions.

Original source: World Bank