---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Kripa Basnyat" <kbasnyat@pwescr.org>
Date: Dec 24, 2013 10:54 AM
Subject: (Womens ESCR) Rome-based UN agencies join forces on food losses
To: <womenescr@googlegroups.com>

Rome-based UN agencies join forces on food losses

Via Relief web

Switzerland to fund $2.7 million project with pilot activities in three African countries

20 December 2013, Rome - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have launched a joint project to tackle the global problem of food losses.

Around one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted each year, amounting to 1.3 billion tonnes - or enough food to feed 2 billion people.

The three UN agencies will work together on the $2.7 million project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation to target food losses in developing countries, which can occur during harvesting, processing, transportation and storage as a result of inadequate infrastructure or lack of skills and technology.

In particular, the three-year project will focus on reducing losses of grains and pulses such as maize, rice, beans and cow peas - staple foods that play a significant role in global food security and have a major impact on the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers.

According to a 2011 report by the World Bank, FAO and the United Kingdom's Natural Resources Institute, grain losses in sub-Saharan Africa alone are worth potentially $4 billion a year and could meet the minimum annual food requirements of at least 48 million people.

At a global level, the joint initiative will share knowledge on the most effective ways to reduce post-harvest losses and help countries introduce policies and regulations to cut down on wastage at national and regional level.

The project will also identify critical points for losses in pulse and grain supply chains in three African pilot countries - Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda - and identify and test potential solutions to issues such as ineffective harvesting and handling, storage moisture levels, attacks by rats, birds and other pests, and insect damage.

To read the entire article: http://reliefweb.int/report/world/rome-based-un-agencies-join-forces-food-losses

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