Shaping the Future for Transforming Food Loss and Waste

FAO, in collaboration with the World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM) and COSAMB (Indian Counterpart for Wholesale Markets), is convening a high-level Regional Symposium titled “Shaping the Future for Transforming Food Loss and Waste: Best Practices from Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Markets in Asia” in Surat, India.

Asia produces over 70 percent of the world’s fresh fruits and vegetables, and its urban wholesale markets are vital lifelines for food and nutrition security—yet they are also major hotspots of food loss and waste.  Every day, large markets send 80–100 tons of unprocessed organic waste to landfills, accounting for up to one-third of urban landfill waste, intensifying pollution through methane emissions (8–10 percent globally), and driving an economic loss estimated at USD 1 trillion annually, while missing critical opportunities to redistribute safe food to address urban hunger.

The good news is that solutions already exist: financially viable, environmentally sound technologies and circular economy models—successfully implemented in countries such as Japan, Korea and Singapore—are transforming waste into resources through food redistribution, processing, and waste-to-value innovations. This Regional Symposium will spotlight these best practices, present compelling business cases, and accelerate their scale-up by bringing together governments, wholesale market authorities, city leaders, investors and innovators.

Through knowledge exchange, networking and policy dialogue, the symposium will help build a robust investment ecosystem, align sustainable finance tools, and demonstrate a powerful message for Asia’s food systems transformation: waste is wealth.