Training Women from Local Associations on food waste reduction and food preservation

7 March, 2019 - Tunis

As part of a project of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to reduce food waste in Tunisia, FAO organized a training session on March 7 for some 60 women representing several organizations active in different regions of Tunisia.

This training is a continuation of the organization's efforts in the Near East and North Africa region under the project "Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Developing Value Chains for Food Security in Egypt and Africa" in Tunisia. It is funded by the Italian Agency for International Development and executed in collaboration with the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries (MARHP).

This special training was marked by the active participation of associations supported by the World Food Program (WFP) as part of the upgrade of their school meals program and the improvement of the nutritional quality of meals.

FAO's representation in Tunisia said that the organization of this training, in partnership with the MARHP and the National Institute of Consumption (INC), aims to provide Tunisian women the tools needed to win the battle against food waste at the household level, thus confirming the essential role of women in educating their families to reduce food waste. The training is based on the methodology developed by FAO as part of the project using practical knowledge integrated in a didactic manual adapted to the Tunisian context.

According to Tarek Ben Jazia, Director General of the National Institute of Consumption (INC),"Training Tunisian women is an important part of our efforts to raise awareness nationally against food waste, as a big quantity of food is wasted at household levels.” He insisted that this training will create a network of trainers to share this knowledge and reach out to a bigger number of households.”   

 At the end of this training, the trained women would be able to share the knowledge acquired with thousands of other women in Tunisia on the reduction of food waste and the preservation of food.

The famous Tunisian chef Zouhair Ben Jamaa shared his innovative ideas and practical cooking tips to develop simple dishes without waste. He also demonstrated reconverting the remains of dishes, as well as good management for the reduction of food waste.

These activities are part of the implementation of a project launched in 2016 by FAO following studies that have made it possible to estimate the wastage and losses in the milk and cereals sectors and to identify their causes. They have been implemented to highlight the strategic priorities in Tunisia. The starting point of the project was the alarming statistical data on the proportion of food losses and waste that amounted to about 200kg per person per year in the MENA region. Among the objectives of FAO and its partners for this project is to improve food security (quantitative and qualitative) and reduce the negative impacts of Food Losses and Waste on natural resources and the environment.