Klaas Smits of Robeco believes reducing food losses will play a key role in the efforts to feed the world's growing population
Take the UK. Each year, Britons throw away 18 million tons of edible food. And to answer the question at the start of this article, it is probably quite a lot. According to 2010 research from the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, an average Danish family, with two adults and two children, chucks €1,341 of food into the trash can each year.
Storage in developing countries is often inadequate
The issues in low-income countries are different. What is necessary there is to reduce the heavy losses in the post-harvest phase of production that result from inefficiencies in harvesting, storage, processing and distribution.
Aside from financial and managerial factors, these losses are caused by technical limitations, including inefficient harvesting, inadequate storage and cooling facilities in difficult climates, and poor infrastructure. Better storage is a key solution.
Storage doesn’t sound sexy. But in hot climates, fresh products such as fruit or fish can spoil due to lack of infrastructure for transportation, storage and cooling. Sometimes, crops are left in the field to rot due to a lack of storage facilities. Even when storage is available, if it is not the right type, pests and micro-organisms can ruin crops.
These various losses add up. In total, more than 40% of food losses in developing countries occur at the post-harvest and processing stages.
Investing in cold-chain facilities & port terminals
Reducing such losses will contribute significantly to improving the efficiency of the food chain as a whole. It is here that private-sector investment can make a real difference.
The public sector must also play a role, by developing roads and ports in developing countries, for instance. But private investment will be key. It is a logical source of funds for improved storage and cold-chain facilities in these areas, as well as transport & logistical infrastructure, such as port terminals and grain elevators.
In industrial countries, meanwhile, intelligent solutions can help stop food being thrown away. Thanks to modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) with CO2, salmon’s shelf-life has been significantly extended, resulting in less waste. And it can now travel by ship rather than plane, meaning lower energy use.
What is clear is that F&A isn’t just about farmers, seed manufacturers or food processing groups. It needs to be viewed in a broader perspective. Storage, transport and packaging are core parts of the industry that will be central in the effort to feed 2050’s 9.3 billion population.
