There is  need to establish microfinance initiatives to equip smallholder farmers with innovations and technologies to reduce food waste occurring at the early stages of the supply chain, a new report by WWF-UK and Tesco Plc- British grocery and general merchandise retailer- has recommended.

Dubbed "Driven to Waste: Global Food Loss on Farms”, the report focuses on food losses on farms, around and during harvests as well as after.

The report looked at cereals and pulses, fruit and vegetables, roots, tubers and oil crops, meat and animal products, fish and fish Products and others.

It has found that 1.2 billion tonnes of food goes uneaten around the world each year because it is lost on farms equivalent to 15 per cent of produced food that is lost before leaving the farm.

People transport pineapple fruits in Ngoma District. 

The report noted that the total food loss and waste is over 2.5 billion tonnes – closer to 40% of all food produced considering another 931 million tonnes wasted in retail, food service and consumer homes and calculations to estimate losses occurring in the post farm gate transport, storage, manufacturing and processing stages.

It shows that $370m worth of food is wasted on farms adding that, "reducing this could reduce hunger and poverty according to Sustainable development goals in low income countries where post-harvest waste amounts to 291 million tonnes of each year.”

Over 58 per cent of global harvest stage waste, it indicates, occurs in high and middle income countries of Europe, North America and industrialised Asia despite having high on farm mechanisation.

The study recommends  an accurate baseline of food waste occurring at the early stages of the supply chain and Integrate 50 per cent reduction target from ‘Farm to Fork’ in future food waste initiatives and programmes.

It also recommends establishing microfinance initiatives to help farmers afford food loss handling technologies.

"A lack of access to finance prevents uptake of innovations that could drive down waste rates. In many regions smallholder farmers are tenants rather than landowners, making investments to reduce losses more difficult to secure. Additionally, lenders are often reluctant to finance farmers on favorable terms,” the report noted.

A pineapple farmer in Ngoma District. 

It further observed that food loss on farms must take a higher position on policy agendas in the form of legally binding food waste reduction targets, investment in facilities as well as policies which protect farmers from unfair trading practices.

According to the report, farm stage food waste generates four per cent of all greenhouse gases and 16 per cent of agriculture emissions causing climate change.

However, it noted that fewer than 6 per cent of Paris Agreement signatories have included food loss and waste in their national carbon plans.

The study has recommended governments to ensure that in markets and supply chains, current market structures don’t separate farmers from their end market considering that mismatches in the volume of production, time of planting, and time of harvest influence food waste levels.

"Farmers should be trained and supported to invest in technology to reduce food waste,” the report reads in part.

How is Rwanda fairing?

According to the 2018 postharvest loss assessment of tomatoes in Rwanda by Horticulture Innovation Lab, a program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, farmers were losing on average 21 per cent of their crop during harvest.

At the collection point, it revealed, another 11.5 per cent of tomatoes are lost.

At the wholesale level 10 per cent of tomatoes are culled out and at the retail level 13.6 per cent of tomatoes are discarded.

Proper storage after harvest at the farm is one of the major limitations, the study said adding that lead time between harvests at farm level to customer is approximately one day, leaving approximately two to three days of shelf life meaning if any delays occur, this leads to additional postharvest losses.

"In general, training on production, harvest and postharvest best practices is required,” it recommended.

Government set targets to reduce post-harvest losses for many crops under a seven-year program from 2018 to 2024.

Post-harvest losses for vegetables have to decrease from 45.5 per cent in 2018 to 22.8 per cent while Post-harvest losses to fruits are expected to decrease from 40 per cent to 28 per cent.

The government seeks to reduce maize post-harvest losses from 26.5 per cent to 13.3 per cent in 2024 and paddy rice losses from 17.7 per cent to 8.9 per cent.

Wheat post-harvest losses are expected to reduce from 25 per cent to 12.5 per cent while sorghum losses are to decrease from 26.5 per cent to 13.3 per cent.

Beans yield losses have to be reduced from 15 per cent to 7.5 per cent as Irish Potatoes post-harvest losses will decrease from 45 per cent to 22.8 per cent.

Cooking banana losses will decrease to 9 per cent from 15 per cent in 2018.

Cassava post-harvest losses are supposed to be reduced from 43 per cent to 21.5 per cent.

However, there are no clear targets on how fish post-harvest losses will be reduced.