The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), key national stakeholders and partner organizations of the three-year project “Reduction of Food Loss and Waste in Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye” have come together to conclude the project, take stock of its milestones, and set a vision for more sustainable and resilient national food systems in line with the countries’ commitment to achieve SDG 12.3.

The project provided support to the Republic of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Türkiye, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan in developing national strategies and action plans for preventing and reducing food loss and waste at the individual, community and national levels. To this end, FAO, in close collaboration with the national governments and food business operators, analysed country-specific context, including existing policy and legislative frameworks, and collected data causes and impacts of food loss and waste in the participating countries. These findings informed the strategies’ formulation, outlining comprehensive programmes for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste. Specific operational actions proposed in these strategies are being aligned with national priorities and relevant initiatives in the areas of food loss and waste prevention and food and agriculture development more generally.

To prepare the countries for implementation of the strategies, the project aimed to improve the capacities of relevant stakeholders and food value chain actors, including by assessing food loss and waste and good practices to prevent and reduce wastage.

The national campaign “Save Your Food”, launched by FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Türkiye, has produced notable results in reducing food loss and waste in the country. Specifically, Turkish households saved 664 million Turkish Lira per year by preventing and reducing food waste thanks to better planning of food shopping, meal portioning and reuse of surplus food. In addition, the number of people saving leftovers for later consumption increased from 45 percent to 55 percent. The campaign also helped to improve comprehension of the difference between “expiry” and “best before” dates by 20 percent, resulting in less safe-to-consume food being discarded past its “best before” date. Composting of food waste increased from 3 percent to 6 percent, and the campaign helped to break a Guinness World Record for the “most pledges made for not wasting food”, with 790 000 people taking the pledge on sofranasahipcik.com, in the field of environmental sustainability. The “Save Your Food” campaign is continuing to raise awareness and promote positive actions to reduce food loss and waste and strengthen sustainable practices in Türkiye.