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).