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Burkina Faso: Logistics Capacity Development: Post-Harvest Food Loss Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa through improved Storage and Handling at the start of the Supply Chain.

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Source: World Food Programme
Country: Burkina Faso, Uganda
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Executive Summary

Post-harvest food loss is one of the largest contributing factors to food insecurity in Africa, directly impacting the lives of millions of smallholder farming families every year. Although warnings have sounded regarding our global inability to feed a growing population by 2050, the answer does not solely and simply require an expansion of agricultural production. A sustainable solution to the threat of global food shortages will rely heavily on the preservation of existing food production; a reduced loss of food.
Global food production, supply and consumption systems are not functioning to optimal efficiency, with food losses in sub-Saharan Africa alone exceeding 30 percent of total crop production and representing more than USD$4 billion in value every year (FAO, 2011). These annual food losses far exceed the total amount of international food aid provided to sub-Saharan African countries each year.

Smallholder farmers manage approximately 500 million small farms and provide over 80 percent of the total food consumed in sub-Saharan Africa. The highest area of food losses reported are pre-farm gate where poor harvesting, drying, processing and storage of crops occur. Clear precedent exists from other developing regions where improved farm management practices and storage technologies have resulted in dramatic food loss reductions and helped farmers to overcome the continual cycle of poverty (created by pressure to sell crops quickly when prices are low to avoid losses, only to buy grain later in the season at higher prices to meet their family’s consumption requirements).

Through this Special Operation, the World Food Programme (WFP) is committed to continue working with Governments, Partners and its substantial network of Purchase for Progress (P4P) Farmer Organisations to improve post-harvest systems at the farm level, the critical entry point to minimizing food loss at the start of the supply chain.

WFP maintains the primary focus must be on preserving existing food production. A reduction in the current food losses not only equates to millions of tonnes of additional food being available for consumption annually, but achieves this without incurring the additional labour, materials, resources and biofuel expansion required with increased production.


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