At the regional level, countries have committed themselves to reducing food loss. Major milestones include:

African Union – Malabo declaration

The twenty-second Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) opened on the 30 January 2014: 2014 Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa, marking tenth anniversary of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

In commemoration of the year, as part of sustaining the CAADP momentum, the African Union Commission (AUC) carried out broad based consultations with key stakeholders, including AU Member States, producers, women and youth organizations, and development and technical partners across the continent to review, strategize and set goals, actions and targets for the next decade to 2025 (Malabo declaration).

Latin America and Caribbean Strategy

In August 2017 FAO facilitated the third regional dialogue on food losses and waste for Latin America and the Caribbean. The regional dialogue brought together FLW working groups, national committees on food security and hunger eradication, technicians, researchers, civil society, academia, food industry and other food system actors to move towards prevention and reduction at the national and regional level.

Near East and North Africa Strategy

Food loss and waste (FLW) in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) Region are high and contribute to reduced availability of food, aggravated water scarcity, adverse environmental impacts and increased food imports, in an already highly import-dependent region. The NENA Regional Strategic Framework for reducing FLW components is based on the region’s socioeconomic and natural resources context. In 2023, Guidelines for action on food loss and waste reduction in the Near East and North Africa were launched (more detail here). 

Country level selected interventions

Activities have been carried out over several years in many countries worldwide, where different examples of solutions to reduce food loss have been identified.

A few main ongoing interventions carried out by governments, international organizations and development institutions have been selected for your consultation.

In the framework of the Chinese Government’s commitment towards food loss reduction, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a notice in 2021 on food loss reduction (Chinese).

FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP) have launched a joint project that includes activities in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda: Mainstreaming food loss reduction initiatives for smallholders in food deficit areas (leaflet).

Other relevant information can be accessed at the links below:

• WFP scaling up successful post-harvest programme for smallholder farmers
• Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation - SDC: Business Model
• Food Loss and Waste in China: Status Quo, Policies and Actions

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