Food loss reduction strategy development in favour of smallholder producers in Africa - phase 1
This project is funded by the Government of Norway and implemented by FAO in collaboration with governments of twelve African countries; Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The overall outcome of Phase 1 is: 'Food loss reduction strategies and policies are strengthened and integrated into national agricultural investment plans.'
This will be achieved by taking stock of existing information and undertaking studies to identify a) major causes of food losses along selected value chains and b) good practices and solutions to reduce them; and c) needs for capacity building at policy level and for value chain actors. Raising the understanding on post-harvest loss issues, assessing the losses and identifying effective solutions are some of the aspects of capacity development.
Based on the findings, food loss reduction strategies will be formulated with the aim of incorporating them into National Agricultural Investment Plans. PHASE 1 of the project ends in August 2016. Most countries have completed or are in the process of completing, loss assessment studies on one or more food supply chains prioritized by their respective governments.
The findings from the studies will be presented and discussed at regional conferences. The Anglophone regional conference took place in Harare in March and was attended by over 100 participants from 13 countries. The francophone regional conference is scheduled to take place in Douala in June.
The findings from the studies will inform the formulation of PHASE 2 of the project, which will aim to reduce losses in priority food chains by improving post-harvest handling, storage, processing, packaging and marketing.