Pulses are important in agricultural production systems, in managing soil fertility, reducing the adverse effects of climate change and enhancing resilience especially for the most vulnerable groups, especially women and children; in food and feed especially during lean periods in food- and nutrition-insecure countries. Furthermore, pulses are an important source of income for the most vulnerable households in developing countries around the world and account for a relatively large share of world trade through processing and marketing. Measures taken by countries to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic could likely increase exacerbate losses in pulses due to inappropriate harvest and post-harvest practices, ultimately contributing to reducing their availability and accessibility.

Many communities and vulnerable individuals rely on foodbanks and other food recovery and redistribution charities to ensure they have access to enough food to build resilience in their communities, reduce food insecurity and contribute to healthier diets.

With physical distancing and reduced shopping trips to supermarkets, buying large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables becomes difficult, with the risk of them going to waste, during this COVID-19 pandemic. There are, however, simple ways in which fruits and vegetables can be preserved at home to reduce waste. Many vegetables, can be blanched by dipping in boiling water for approximately 5 minutes and then pickled and fermented. Fruits can be preserved by blanching and freezing, juicing, drying, frying, or preserved with sugar into jams and fruit preserves.
Root crops and bananas can be fried to produce chips.

SDC-funded PHM projects are in their final phase, while one concluded a few years ago. All of these projects have had similar objectives and a shared thematic focus, using much the same approaches. Their common goal has been “to increase food security of smallholder farmers in SSA through reduced postharvest losses at farm and community level".

In this COVID-19 crisis FAO wants to propose for consultation and raise awareness to food waste issues. You can access a series of an educational-engaging package designed to educate young people to value food and reduce its loss.

On 25 March 2020 will start a series of technical webinars, organized by Agreenium (l'Institut agronomique, vétérinaire et forestier de France), UN-ESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).

A pilot project implemented by Kyoto University in 2019, aimed at raising awareness on food waste in canteens on the campus, and enhancing the knowledge and engagement of students in reducing food loss and waste, determined that approximately 20 per cent of food is wasted in canteens on campus...

19 December 2019, New York/Rome - FAO welcomes today's decision by the United Nations to create two new international days and one international year devoted to issues directly related to food and agriculture. 

The UN General Assembly adopted resolutions designating 2021 as...

At its 7th meeting on 12 December 2019, the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste launched recommendations for action to help accelerate the EU's progress towards global food loss and waste reduction targets.

In occasion of the National Postharvest Week, about 120 participants attended the two-day Second International Conference of the Ethiopian Society of Postharvest Management (ESPHM) held from 6 to 7 December 2019.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture, Ethiopian Society of Post-Harvest M...

The new partnership will strengthen small island nations' efforts to grow more food, avoid food loss and waste, use already scarce natural resources more sustainably, and be better equipped to withstand the impacts of climate change to which they are particularly prone.

Through this new...

The State of Food and Agriculture 2019 (SOFA) launched at a press conference with the Director-General and Maximo Torero (ADG-ES), on Monday, 14 October at 12:00 in the Sheikh Zayed Centre is about Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction. It provides in...

This report highlights the critical role of a sustainable food systems approach in eradicating poverty, hunger and all forms of malnutrition, promoting sustainable production and consumption, meeting the challenges of urbanization, absorbing the youth labour force and reducing the impact of fo...

September 17th – 20th, 2019 at the African Union Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Postharvest Loss Reduction and Agro-processing: Drivers of Agricultural Transformation in Africa

Acknowledging the urgent need to address this global challenge, the University of Nairobi and a co...

Global Advisory Panel for Development of Voluntary Codes of Conduct on Food Loss and Waste Reduction - Call for nominations

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been funding programs on postharvest management (PHM) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) since 2008, following its successful POSTCOSECHA program in Central America that led to the adoption of m...

Kampala - Key agriculture stakeholders in Uganda have commended national efforts towards addressing food and nutrition insecurity as well as increasing national income through strategies to reduce post-harvest losses in grains. The vote of confidence in the government was made...

A workshop is held in Djibouti to launch a new project entitled “Post-Harvest Loss Reduction for Enhanced Food and Nutrition Security in IGAD Member States”. It will contribute to improving the capacity of IGAD and its Member States in developing and implementing solutions to food loss and waste at various levels (from policy, to improved market linkages and technologies).

Climate change is expected to have a profound impact on agricultural productivity, post-harvest losses and value chains. Climate change affects agricultural productivity both directly, by introducing changes in agro-ecological conditions (e.g. drought, variable precipitation, extreme weather e...

There are now over 335,000 families in 16 countries who have made the choice to join the WFP Zero Food Loss Initiative. Thanks to the hard work of a growing number of WFP Smallholde...