I’ve gained many valuable insights in the process of researching the problem of food loss/waste and its possible solutions. First, I think the distinction between loss and waste needs to be understood to foster effective solutions. Waste is predominately what happens in wealthy countries while loss results from poor knowledge, practices and infrastructure. I learned the astonishing fact that some 40% of the not eaten food in the Global North is wasted at the end of the chain, at the consumer level. In contrast, about 40% of the not eaten food in the South is lost at or somewhere near the beginning of the food chain, either in the field or in or in poor storage and transportation systems. About 120 Kg of food is wasted per capita, per year in Europe and North America vs just 9 Kg in South/Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. One thing that came very clear is that the issue of food loss/waste is as complicated as the food system that encapsulates it. Clearly there is no one size fits all solution to any of the problems with the food system, nor are there easy answers.
But there are answers and each one will have to become part of a new overarching ethos about food and resources. Each solution will have to take its place in a set of solutions that can be shared freely and adapted to unique variables. Actions such as “on farm interventions”, (a fancy term for farmer education) and investing in hermetic storage systems for example have and will continue to help mitigate the food loss in the Global South. Meanwhile social advocates and food movements have and will continue to change the culture of food in the North. Improvements in infrastructure in the South are necessary, as is reformed food and agriculture politics here at home. And since speculative trading in grains has contributed to food crises worldwide, a small tax on commodity trading in food products could fund the necessary infrastructure improvements in the South and public outreach and marketing campaigns in the North. There are challenges but there are ways to solve the problems we face. And to use a well known cliche, “outside the box thinking”, or systemic thinking as we now know, has never been more important.