Globally, 14 percent of all food produced is lost or wasted from harvest to transport, storage, and processing, amounting to around USD 400 billion (FAO, 2019) while, in 2019, around 931 million tons of food were wasted (17% of total global food production): 61% by households, 26% by food services, and 13% by retail (UNEP, 2021).

As most of food waste is the result of certain behaviour, a new – behaviour-targeting – approach is required to tackle the issue. Applying behavioural insights to understanding and addressing behaviour and barriers to its change, adds a new lens to the conventional approach to studying the issue and designing solutions.

FAO’s project “Food Waste Reduction through Awareness and Behaviour Change along the Food Supply and Consumption Chain”, which was awarded Innovation Fund earlier this year, will localize and assess behaviour-related food loss and waste levels and causes along food supply chains (FSC), as well as at the level of consumption, identify the change in behaviour that is required by FSC actors and consumers, determine its feasibility, and develop, recommend, and disseminate good practices to reduce behaviour-related food loss and waste.

The project is being implemented in Azerbaijan and Georgia, where FAO had earlier formulated national strategies for FLW reduction and corresponding action plans.

The project is supported by an Incubator providing training and coaching on innovation-related methodologies.