Tunisian teachers validate the first guidebook against food waste developed by FAO

Tunis, 28 February, 2019 - Sixty teachers from grade schools and high schools in Tunis participated in the validation of the Tunisian version of the first guide on good practices for reducing food waste, prepared by the Regional Office for Near East and North Africa of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

This participatory workshop is part of the project "Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Developing Value Chains for Food Security in Egypt and Tunisia", funded by the Italian Agency for International Development and implemented by FAO in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, and other national partners including the National Institute of Consumption (INC).

The inaugural session was attended by officials from the ministry of Education, the Italian Agency for International Development and the World Food Program.

Representing FAO office in Tunisia, M. Ahmed Bougacha hailed the efforts of the organizers and teachers, who joined this project and dedicated this day to validate the first Tunisian guidebook to fight against food waste, as "a valuable document of awareness and an essential step for the reduction of the food waste."

Mr Kamel HAJJEM, Director General of Elementary Education declared that fighting food waste is an integral part of the value system put in place by the ministry with the aim of educating students on this new approach, as consuming food wisely requires changing their mindsets and behavior.

Ms. Eleonora Fiorello, Head of Local Development and Decentralization at the Regional Office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Tunis, was present at the inaugural session, and praised this initiative which reaches a wide audience and is important in the fight against food waste as it completes the awareness cycle in Tunisia. In addition, she added, this project has great potential and fits in perfectly with the support that the Italian Cooperation makes available to the Ministry of Education, particularly in strengthening the school food system.

According to Tarek Ben Jazia, Director General of the National Institute of Consumption, "these teachers will play a vital role in raising the awareness of more than 2,400 students and promote participation in the national drawing contest against food waste, launched in collaboration between FAO, INC, the Ministry of Agriculture of Hydraulic Resources and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Education.” He also highlighted the importance of “creating teacher-level relays to educate children from an early age on issues related to consumption and food waste issues."

These activities are part of the implementation of the project launched in 2016 by FAO following studies that made it possible to estimate the wastage and losses in the milk and cereals sectors and to identify their causes, highlighting a strategic priority 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 the project by FAO and its partners is to improve food security (quantitative and qualitative) and reduce the negative impacts of food losses and waste on natural resources.