On the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, learn how FAO is leveraging data to save food and advance the 2030 Agenda

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is marking this year’s International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW) by shining a light on the importance of leveraging data to stop food loss and waste.

Every year, over 13 percent of all the food produced globally is lost in the supply chain before reaching the retail stage. That equals over 400 billion dollars, according to the latest FAO estimates. 

Food loss and waste is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. It accounts for 8 to 10 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, which contributes to an unstable climate and extreme weather events such as droughts and flooding. These changes negatively impact crop yields, reduce the nutritional quality of crops, disrupt supply chains and threaten food security. Food losses also contribute to improper use of natural resources like land and water when food produced using these resources does not reach the consumer’s table. 

Understanding the extent and location of food loss and waste is essential for formulating effective policies to achieve food loss and waste reduction, critical for the transition to sustainable agrifood systems.

This International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW) offers a chance to highlight the power of data in turning insights into action. With improved data, countries can identify hotspots, drive innovation, and monitor progress toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, Target 3, which aims to halve per-capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains including post-harvest losses by 2030.

FAO's work

"As the custodian agency for SDG indicator 12.3.1.a (Food loss index), FAO plays a critical role in measuring and reducing food loss and waste and to track national progress", says Carola Fabi, Methodological Innovation Team Leader, Statistics Division (FAO).

The Organization collects official data from countries which is published in FAOSTAT to fill data gaps. It has also developed the Food Loss and Waste (FLW) database, the largest online repository of global data on food loss and waste. This digital platform compiles data from hundreds of openly accessible publications and reports, including subnational reports, academic studies, and reports from national and international organizations. The data from FAOSTAT and the FLW database is used to model food loss estimates globally, by regions and sub-regions for SDG monitoring. 

In addition, FAO offers technical assistance to countries to design and implement data collection activities. ​Pilot surveys have been conducted in countries: 6 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 4 in Sub-Saharan Africa and 2  in Asia.

FAO works with national SDG focal points and trains them on how to compile and report on the Food Loss Index (FLI) using the available data to help monitor progress towards the SDG target. In-person trainings were conducted for countries: 3 in Asia and the Pacific, 7 in Europe and Central Asia, 4 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 4 in sub-Saharan Africa. The Organization has trained an additional 83 countries on the food loss index methodology during regional and sub-regional workshops.

Finally, FAO has developed the SDG 12.3.1a course available in the FAO eLearning Academy. The self-paced course aims to assist countries in reducing food losses along production and supply chains. The lessons cover the index and its components, along with strategies and guidelines for collecting, integrating and modelling the necessary data from a variety of sources.