The United Nations Joint Project (UNJP), a Government of Ireland funded project on food loss reduction is one of the many projects under the SAVE FOOD Initiative. The project objective is to identify food loss causes and develop solutions to address the causes through research, awareness raising and collaborating with private and public partners around the world. The project started on 28 July 2015 in Timor-Leste is being implemented by FAO and IFAD under a collaborative arrangement where FAO provides post-harvest technical support to IFAD-funded projects, and the Government of Ireland provides the financial resources. The countries where the project is being implemented and the crops covered are: Ethiopia – maize and teff, Malawi – maize and groundnuts, and Timor-Leste – maize and rice. Already in each country a research agency has been identified to undertake the studies based on the FAO case study methodology.

The FAO Technical Officer was in Timor-Leste to train researchers from the selected University of Timor-Leste (UNTL) to carry out the studies, from 28 July to 1 August 2015. The training program focused on two key areas that are fundamental to carrying out food loss studies:

• an understanding of the post-harvest supply chain and the FAO food loss study methodology;
• an understanding of the post-harvest supply chain helps researchers in planning their activities based on the supply chain structure.

It also makes it is easier for them to identify the critical loss points, their causes and the likely solutions to address the causes. An understanding of the FAO methodology enables them to use a method whose results are comparable to other countries implementing the project.

Twenty-one participants composed of food loss researchers, enumerators and extension staff attended the training.

Cephas Taruvinga specialized in food grain loss assessments and loss reduction strategies went there to train researchers and kick-start the project.

Further resources

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