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Approximately 30% of food produced for human consumption around the world is either lost or wasted each year. This is equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes of food. Robert VanOtterdijk, Agro-Food Industries Officer and Camelia Bucatariu, Technical Officer of the FAO Nutrition and Food Systems Division explain the importance of actively preventing and reducing food loss and waste and its direct contribution to food and nutrition security for all. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR  CH  EN   FR  RU  SP

The 21st century faces multiple and complex challenges. The new 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda galvanizes and commits the International community to act together to surmount them and trasform our world for today's and future generations. 

This paper uses scenario analyses to investigate how reductions in food loss and waste (FLW) in the European Union (EU) could influence prices in sub-Saharan Africa – as a source and destination of traded agricultural and food products. In addition to a baseline “business as usual” (BaU) scenario, four scenarios with 50-percent reductions are enacted using the Modular Applied GeNeral Equilibrium Tool (MAGNET). The analysis provides insights on potential impacts in terms of medium- to long-term global and local price changes in sub- Saharan Africa and the mechanisms behind them – changes in production, consumption and trade patterns. It also provides [...]

This publication “School feeding and possibilities for direct purchases from family farming in Latin American countries” contributes to the articulation of the sectors involved with school feeding, in the search for alternatives for the institutionalization and strengthening of school feeding policies in the countries; it is also hoped that in the medium and long term SFPs can contribute to the human right to food (HRF) and to sustainable human development.

Ending Malnutrition offers key insights from the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) to catalyze follow-up actions across the world. It reviews current evidence on the prevalence of malnutrition and analyzes several salient policy issues crucial for a concerted global effort to end malnutrition – improving food systems at the core of a sustainable nutrition strategy, promoting social protection to improve welfare, including health and nutrition, using fortification and supplementation to address micronutrient deficiencies, and improving access to water and sanitation. The concluding chapter focuses on the key role that multilateral institutions must play in accelerating and sustaining global progress [...]

This manual is designed guide programme planners in the design of nutrition-sensitive programmes. It is based on a thorough review of experience on nutrition-sensitive Agriculture, was developed through extensive consultation within FAO and with its development partners, and has been field-tested in several countries. It is structured around the first phases of the programming cycle (situation appraisal, programme design and programme review) and includes key questions, accompanied by tips and references. 

The "International Symposium on Food and Nutrition Security: Food-based Approaches for Improving Diets and Raising Levels of Nutrition" was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to better document the contribution that food and agriculture can make to improving nutrition. These proceedings are a useful resource for decision and policy makers, programme planners and implementers, and health workers, all of which work to combat hunger and malnutrition. The proceedings of the Symposium aim at collecting and better documenting evidence that demonstrates the impact, effectiveness and sustainability of food-based approaches for improving diets and raising levels of nutrition. [...]

Food Losses and Waste (FLW) impact the sustainability and resilience of agricultural and food systems and their ability to ensure food security and nutrition for all for this generation and for future generations. Reduction in FLW also supports better use of natural resources. The CFS acknowledges that FLW is a consequence of how food systems function. It calls for all stakeholders – States, including other relevant levels of governance, international organizations, the private sector and civil society – to recognize food security and nutrition as central objectives of sustainable food systems and to individually and collectively address FLW to improve [...]

During the XXXII Regional FAO Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Buenos Aires in March 2012, one of the issues proposed for the agenda and agreed upon by the participants was that “FAO will organize a broad and dynamic debate with the participation of the civil society and academia to discuss the concept of food sovereignty, the meaning of which has been not been agreed upon by FAO Member States and the United Nations System.” (FAO, 2012, paragraph 25) To this end, this ad h oc document, prepared by the consultant Gustavo Gordillo, contains information and analysis [...]

The aim of the Toolkit is to showcase concrete examples of good practices for food loss and waste reduction, while pointing to information sources, guidelines and pledges favoring food wastage reduction.