Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:47:11.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Postharvest losses and waste in developed and less developed countries: opportunities to improve resource use*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2010

R. J. HODGES ,
J. C. BUZBY  and
B. BENNETT
R. J. HODGES*
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
J. C. BUZBY
Affiliation:
Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 1800 M Street, Washington, DC 20036-5831, USA
B. BENNETT
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
*
†To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Email: R.J.Hodges@gre.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This review compares and contrasts postharvest food losses (PHLs) and waste in developed countries (especially the USA and the UK) with those in less developed countries (LDCs), especially the case of cereals in sub-Saharan Africa. Reducing food losses offers an important way of increasing food availability without requiring additional production resources, and in LDCs it can contribute to rural development and poverty reduction by improving agribusiness livelihoods. The critical factors governing PHLs and food waste are mostly after the farm gate in developed countries but before the farm gate in LDCs. In the foreseeable future (e.g. up to 2030), the main drivers for reducing PHLs differ: in the developed world, they include consumer education campaigns, carefully targeted taxation and private and public sector partnerships sharing the responsibility for loss reduction. The LDCs’ drivers include more widespread education of farmers in the causes of PHLs; better infrastructure to connect smallholders to markets; more effective value chains that provide sufficient financial incentives at the producer level; opportunities to adopt collective marketing and better technologies supported by access to microcredit; and the public and private sectors sharing the investment costs and risks in market-orientated interventions.

Type
Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 149 , Issue S1: FORESIGHT PROJECT ON GLOBAL FOOD AND FARMING FUTURES , February 2011 , pp. 37 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The views expressed here are those of the authors, and may not be attributed to the Natural Resources Institute (UK), the Economic Research Service or the US Department of Agriculture.

References

REFERENCES

Boxall, R. A. (2002). Storage losses. In Crop Post-harvest: Science and Technology Volume 1: Principles and Practice (Eds Golob, P., Farrell, G. & Orchard, J. E.), pp. 143–169. Oxford: Blackwell Sciences, Ltd.Google Scholar
Buzby, J. C., Wells, H. F., Axtman, B. & Mickey, J. (2009). Supermarket Loss Estimates for Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, Meat, Poultry, and Seafood and their Use in the ERS Loss-adjusted Food Availability Data. Economic Information Bulletin no. 44. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.Google Scholar
Coulter, J. & Shepherd, A. W. (1995). Inventory Credit – An Approach to Developing Agricultural Markets. FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 120. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
de Lucia, M. & Assennato, D. (1994). Agricultural Engineering in Development: Post-harvest Operations and Management of Foodgrains. FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin No. 93. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
FAO (1977). Analysis of an FAO Survey of Post-harvest Crop Losses in Developing Countries. AGPP MISC/27. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
FAO (2009). How to Feed the World in 2050. Rome: FAO. Available from: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/expert_paper/How_to_Feed_the_World_in_2050.pdf (verified 23 September 2010).Google Scholar
Goletti, F. & Wolff, C. (1999). The Impact of Post-harvest Research. International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington, DC: IFPRI – Market and Structural Studies Division.Google Scholar
Grolleaud, M. (1997). Post-harvest Losses: Discovering the Full Story. Rome: FAO. Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/ac301e/ac301e00.HTM (verified 23 September 2010).Google Scholar
Hall, K. D., Guo, J., Dore, M. & Chow, C. C. (2009). The progressive increase of food waste in America and its environmental impact. PLoS ONE 4(11): e7940. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007940.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, K. L. & Lindblad, C. J. (1978). Postharvest Grain Loss Assessment Methods: A Manual of Methods for the Evaluation of Postharvest Losses. Minnesota: American Association of Cereal Chemists.Google Scholar
Hodges, R. J., Bernard, M., Knipschild, H. & Rembold, F. (2010). African Postharvest Losses Information System – a network for the estimation of cereal weight losses. In Proceedings of the 10th International Working Conference on Stored Products Protection, 27 June to 2 July 2010, Estoril, Portugal (Ed. Carvalho, M. O.), pp. 958–964. Lisbon: IICT.Google Scholar
Houghton, E. & Portougal, V. (1997). Reengineering the production planning process in the food industry. International Journal of Production Economics 50, 105–116.Google Scholar
Kantor, L. S., Lipton, K., Manchester, A. & Oliveira, V. (1997). Estimating and addressing America's food losses, USDA, Economic Research Service. Food Review 20, 2–12.Google Scholar
Levis, J. W., Barlaz, M. A., Themelis, N. J. & Ulloa, P. (2010). Assessment of the State of Food Waste Treatment in the United States and Canada. Waste Management 30, 1486–1494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muth, M. K., Kosa, K. M., Nielsen, S. J. & Karns, S. A. (2007). Exploratory research on estimation of consumer-level food loss conversion factors. RTI International Final Report to U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (Agreement No. 58-4000-6-0121). Washington, DC: Research Triangle Institute.Google Scholar
National Academy of Sciences (1978). Post-harvest Food Losses in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Stuart, T. (2009). Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal. London: W.W. Norton Co.Google Scholar
Tyler, P. S. (1982). Misconception of food losses. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 4 (2). Available from: http://www.unu.edu/Unupress/food/8F042e/8F042E05.htm (verified 23 September 2010).Google Scholar
US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (USDA/ERS). (2010 a). Loss-adjusted Food Availability Data Series and Documentation. Washington, DC: USDA. Available from: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/FoodConsumption/FoodGuideIndex.htm (verified 23 September 2010).Google Scholar
US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (USDA/ERS). (2010 b). Food CPI and Expenditures, Table 7. Washington, DC: USDA. Available from: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/CPIFoodAndExpenditures/Data/Expenditures_tables/table7.htm (verified 23 September 2010).Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (1999). Waste Not, Want Not: Feeding the Hungry and Reducing Solid Waste through Food Recovery. EPA530-R-99-040. Washington, DC: EPA. Available from: http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/materials/organics/pubs/wast_not.pdf (verified 23 September 2010).Google Scholar
Wareing, P. (2002). Pests of durable crops – moulds. In Crop Post-harvest: Science and Technology Volume 1: Principles and Practice (Eds Golob, P., Farrell, G. & Orchard, J. E.), pp. 120–130. Oxford: Blackwell Sciences Ltd.Google Scholar
World Bank (2006). Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems. Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank (2009). Reshaping Economic Geography. Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank (2010). Missing Food: The Case of Postharvest Grain Losses in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Program) (2009). Household Food and Drink Waste in the UK. Banbury: WRAP. Available from: http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/Household_food_and_drink_waste_in_the_UK_report.ed0a4759.8048.pdf (verified 23 September 2010).Google Scholar
Wu, F. & Khlangwiset, P. (2010). Health economic impacts and cost-effectiveness of aflatoxin-reduction strategies in Africa: Case studies in biocontrol and postharvest interventions. Food Additives and Contaminants Part A. Chemistry, Analysis, Control, Exposure and Risk Assessment 27, 496–509.Google Scholar