FAO Feature Story

The losses along the way

Why we need to think about transportation systems to reduce food loss

Appropriate transportation systems are vital to address the challenge of food losses, especially where produce has to be painstakingly carried to the nearest road to get to a market. ©FAO/David Hogsholt

26/09/2024

It’s a picture full of jarring contrasts. Shiny, late-model refrigerated trucks full of fruit pull up at the loading bays at supermarkets in some parts of the world. Elsewhere, farmers cultivating hillside fields load baskets of produce on their heads to get to the one road leading to the nearest trading station or market.

The transportation process, a critical point in fresh fruit and vegetable supply chains, contributes significantly to the 13 percent of the world’s food losses that occur between harvesting and retail. To address this challenge we need to approach the whole system of transportation and come up with tailored solutions.

Here are four transportation considerations and possible solutions to reduce food loss:

1. Considering packaging and beyond

How produce is packaged is of course an important element in reducing food loss. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has invested considerable effort in training producers on better packaging methods, for example using rigid, reusable plastic crates to minimize mechanical damage during stacking and transportation.

But there are other equally important requirements such as temperature management and air flow. Produce should ideally be transported during the cooler part of the day, using vehicles with an open frame structure. It also needs to be protected from sunlight and dehydration. FAO initiatives have funded light-coloured tarpaulins to loosely cover trucks and protect produce from the elements. FAO has additionally supported the manufacturing of frames for transport systems to improve conditions.

FAO’s work to reduce food loss during transportation focuses on areas including handling practices, packaging, temperature management and air flow. Left/top: ©FAO/Luis Antonio Rohas; Right/bottom: © FAO/David Hogsholt

2. Proposing alternative transport methods

In many low- and middle-income countries, transport systems designed for passengers or small pickups and vans are often used to transport fresh produce. This can lead to produce being exposed to high temperatures, heat stress, water loss and rapid deterioration.

In addition, different types of terrain present various issues. For example, mountainous areas often lack feeder roads for transporting produce. That means everything has to be carried - in many places on people’s heads or on horseback - to the nearest main road from where it can be conveyed to market.

This issue is all the more crucial in tropical countries, where high elevations favour production of high value and nutritious crops such as broccoli, carrots, strawberries, Chinese cabbage, and fresh herbs. In these contexts, innovative alternative systems of transport like zip lines, tramlines or ropeways make good sense, facilitating transport to locations such as trading stations or markets

FAO provides training all along the supply chain to improve handling practice and reduce damage due to human error. ©FAO/Luis Antonio Rohas

3. Training to prevent human error

Proper training is crucial because human error also contributes to mechanical damage during the loading, transportation and unloading of fresh produce from transport systems. Produce handlers off-loading packages too roughly or stacking boxes of fruit incorrectly can cause significant losses. Especially with delicate fruits like bananas or mangoes, bruising, compression or abrasion can make the produce unsellable or even inedible.

Also, for example, FAO’s work in the Philippines has shown a 38 percent reduction in food losses in fresh produce supply chains by eliminating the intermediary repackaging of fresh produce destined for supermarkets in Manila.

FAO provides training to those involved at all stages of the supply chain in adopting good handling practice during loading and unloading of the packaged produce, underlining the economic benefits to be gained.

4. Partnerships can be key

Public private partnerships can often help provide solutions to transportation challenges. To facilitate cross border trade in high value horticultural crops between the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand, for example, FAO supported the construction of a fresh produce packing house on land donated by the Lao Government.

The success of initial cross border trade led to a public-private partnership between the Lao Government and a Thai company to operate the packing house and a cold chain for shipping produce to Thailand. An estimated 40 percent of the fresh produce outputs met market quality standards for export, while the remaining 60 percent were taken up domestically, largely by the hospitality sector.

FAO works to promote the development of organized transport systems critical for assuring the efficient transfer of perishable fresh produce from farms to markets with minimal food loss in low- and middle-income countries.

Inefficient transport systems are a major factor leading to unacceptable levels of loss, especially of foods rich in vitamins and other nutrients. Therefore, tackling this challenge in an integrated way is a critical area of work for FAO and its partners - for the benefit of people and planet.

The losses along the way

Why we need to think about transportation systems to reduce food loss

26/09/2024

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