Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Motivation: food security & postharvest losses

Supply chains for fruits and vegetables in developing countries are characterised by relatively high losses between harvest and consumption and in all the steps and processes that take place between these. Postharvest loss is often used to describe losses between harvest and the onward supply of produce to markets and equates broadly with waste in the food supply chain. In its Food Loss Reduction Strategy the FAO stated that the losses for perishable crops, by their nature, are higher than those for cereals and highly varied by region and by commodity type, suggesting losses over 50%.

Analysis: causes of postharvest losses in the FSC of fruit and vegetables

The causes of postharvest losses in the fruit and vegetables postharvest chain in developing economies are diverse and often interconnected. The majority of these causes are foremost concerned with the categories cold chains/refrigerated transport, storage facilities and product handling. This top-3 accounts for more than 40 percent of the identified causes of postharvest losses. Another major cause of postharvest loss is lack of market-oriented production (no demand). Soon a report will be published by Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research in which the main causes of postharvest loss have been examined (please contact Bart van Gogh). Topics that are reviewed in view of these causes are: cooling and refrigeration, conditioned atmosphere storage, postharvest handling, agrologistics, product physiology, packaging, food nutrional value and food safety, fruit/vegetable processing, market information, capacity building and system innovation.

Food security in metropolitan areas is under pressure

Estimates of the UN indicate that 70% of the world population will live in urban area by the year 2050. In the same period, the middle class (consumers of processed food) in for example BRIC countries will rise in a very fast pace. The middle class in India will rise from 5% in 2007 to 40% in 2030. These developments place high pressure on food safety and food security. This demands sustainable, efficient and technologically advanced food chains.

Food security and postharvest losses: Dutch (institutional) framework

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has addressed food security as one of their top priorities and announced to explore the possibilities to improve efficient chains in upcoming countries and to develop these in co-operation with the partners from the private and not-for profit sector in the Netherlands.

Intervention: Network of Excellence postharvest losses

In the Netherlands, the concept of a Network of Excellence (NoE) with a clear focus on global postharvest food losses will be established. Such a network is based on the idea that a conglomerate of stakeholders, rather than a single party, would engage with the complexity of causes of postharvest losses more effectively. The NoE also encourages co-operation between private and public sector, as well as knowledge institutes.

Network of Excellence: opportunities

The concept of the NoE facilitates stakeholders to combine efforts in designing and implementing solutions to reduce postharvest losses. The private sector has a role to play in the process of developing and implementing practical and appropriate solutions, as well as knowledge institutes, not-for profit organizations, intermediary organizations and public agencies, in order to tackle the mentioned complexity of postharvest losses. Keyword within the context of the Network of Excellence is postharvest knowledge and the transfer of this knowledge to the identified target groups. The Network discloses knowledge on postharvest related issues to the network’s target groups, as well as between network members themselves. By performing an intermediary role as matchmaker between network members and network clients, the Network of Excellence makes this knowledge available to chain actors in developing countries.