Malawi has a higher rate of food loss across the supply chain than the world average with farmers typically losing between 15 to 50 percent of their yields to pests and decay.
This was revealed by Joseph Kanyamuka a Research fellow with the Centre for Agricultural Research and Development (CARD) at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR).
He indicated that the common value chains that are vulnerable to food loss and waste are basically horticultural crops such as tomatoes.
“In tomato food loss or waste, the percentage can go as high as 50 percent as you know tomato is a highly perishable crop issues to do with for example other fruits like mangoes. So it’s really a big challenge in our country”
Among others this raises food insecurity and adversely impacts dietary diversity and puts a burden on the environment, as there is food which never reaches the consumer but its production results in resource use and emissions.
This is contained in a report titled “Food Loss and Waste: Implications for Climate Change and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in Malawi”.
It further suggested the need to invest in storage facilities and cold chain systems and enhanced market linkages for farmers as some of the solutions to avoid food loss and waste.
“We’ve had a number of technologies especially to do with storage infrastructure but the uptake of these technologies among the farmers among the value chain actors has been slow.
“One of the key issues that we’re looking at in this project is to look at how best we can capacitate or incentivize private sector which is very key when it comes to commercializing these technologies so we’re looking at how best we can reach the private sector”
Kanyamuka noted that food loss and wastage has far-reaching implications on food security, nutrition, livelihoods, and climate change.
“We need to go beyond just designing policies. In Malawi we already have good policies but most of the times they are just sitting on the shelf. This is the call to implementation.
“So as we move with implementation, the key issue now is to bring issues of collaboration, coordination partnerships these are very critical especially another important stakeholder in this aspect is the media. So we need to create awareness as well as mindset change about issues of food loss and waste”
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), poor storage, infrastructure and handling cause 10 to 30 percent in losses.
In urban areas the loss is seen in restaurants and hotels through the disposal of uneaten food while in rural areas it’s normally through social events like zinkhoswe (traditional ceremonies) and weddings.
In the global food system, food that is lost and wasted accounts for 38 percent of total energy usage.
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