Project overview:

The global population is expected to surpass 9.7 billion by 2050, with food demand thought to increase by up to 60 percent over the same period. Meanwhile, chronic hunger is on the rise, reaching nearly 690 million people in the world in 2019, and a considerable amount of food produced is being lost or wasted. The latest available global economic outlooks also suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic might have added an additional 83 to 132 million people to the ranks of the undernourished in 2020. In Turkey alone, it is estimated that 18 million tonnes of food is lost or wasted annually. This represents more than 20 percent of all food produced in the country.

Current global challenges such as climate change, poverty and hunger are negatively affected by food loss and waste (FLW). Reducing FLW is therefore a key objective to achieve food security, improve food chains and reduce the environmental footprint of food systems. 

Curbing food loss and waste requires not only the revision of institutional and legal frameworks, and improvement in the methods of production, conservation and distribution of food, but also a change in resource-intensive consumption patterns and increasing awareness among all actors in the food supply chain, as well as consumers.

To contribute to tackling this issue in Central Asia, FAO began implementation of a project entitled “Reduction of Food Loss and Waste in Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Turkey” underthe FAO-Turkey Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP II).

Funded by the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the project aims to assist Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in developing measures to reduce food loss and waste.

In particular, the project will support the recipient countries to: 

• develop national gender-sensitive strategic policy and action plans to reduce FLW;
• establish FLW data collection systems, as well as measure and monitor FLW;
• improve knowledge management and capacities;
• raise awareness and understanding of FLW (causes, impact and  solutions) among actors in all sectors, including consumers, at national and regional level, leaving no one behind.

In addition, regional collaboration will be strengthened through the establishment of a Regional Committee on Food Loss and Waste. 

The main project beneficiaries are trainers, extension specialists and other staff of national institutions, government, non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations, as well as farmer/fisher organizations and other food value chain actors.

Reducing food loss and waste is an important target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the 2030 Agenda. Target 12.3 calls for “halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reducing food loss along production and supply chains (including post-harvest losses) by 2030”.

At the same time, project implementation would contribute to achieving other SDG targets, including those relating to food security and nutrition as well as social and environmental sustainability.