Food Loss and Waste Reduction for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems

Significant levels of food loss and waste (FLW) occur in the food supply chain from production to consumption. FLW has negative social, economic and environmental consequences. It contributes to food insecurity and malnutrition. It also contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution, degradation of natural ecosystems and biodiversity loss, and represents a waste of resources, such as inputs, energy, water and land, that are used in food production. The causes of FLW are context-specific, but in general include technical reasons relating to inadequate practices and infrastructure, lack of knowledge and awareness, weak institutional and regulatory frameworks, and fragmented policies, strategies, and programmes, inter alia.

This subprogramme will aim to support the reduction of FLW through three mutually reinforcing Outputs:

Output 1. Policies and Strategies for reducing food loss and waste (FLW).

Output 2. Capacity building in good practices to reduce food losses.

Output 3. Awareness-raising, collaboration and synergy of FLW reduction initiatives.

The main strategy behind the subprogramme is to catalyze reductions in FLW through engendering change and improvements in the agrifood systems at global, regional, and national and sub-national level in beneficiary countries. Grenada, Liberia and Viet Nam have been identified as beneficiary countries for national and sub-national interventions. Following clear identification of the underlying causes and objectives for reducing FLW (e.g. food security or environmental stewardship), the subprogramme will take complementary action to foster coherent and integrated evidence-based policy and institutional solutions in beneficiary countries, raise awareness and build the capacity of value chain actors and the public sector to implement sustainable solutions; promote coordination in the efforts of the private and public sectors including other players ensuring there is coherence in action at all levels.