ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Saturday urged African countries and pan African institutions to exert concerted efforts towards tackling post-harvest food loss and waste in Africa so as to ensure the continent's food security.
The AU, noting that Africa has "remained the most food insecure continent in the world, with approximately 1 in 4 people undernourished," associated the continent's food insecurity woes to a high amount of post-harvest food loss and waste as witnessed across many African countries.
"Over the years, most African governments have focused on increasing production to meet the food and nutrition needs of the ever rising population which is estimated to reach 2.5 billion by the year 2050," the 55-member pan African bloc said in a statement.
According to the AU, increased agricultural production without complementary interventions to ensure proper utilization of the food produced has contributed to the reported increase in post-harvest food loss and waste over the years.
Figures from the AU show that the total quantitative food loss in Africa is estimated to be over 100 million metric tonnes a year, while the global food losses and waste is estimated at 1.3 billion metric tonnes, equivalent to over 30 percent of the total food produced for human consumption, and it is estimated that global food wastage could feed up to 1.6 billion people annually.
"These losses exacerbate food insecurity and have negative impacts on the environment through wasting land, water, farm inputs and energy used in producing food that is not consumed," the AU said.
The AU also stressed that post-harvest losses reduce income to farmers and contribute to higher food prices.
In 2014, African leaders, under the AU umbrella, had adopted the Malabo Declaration, which among other things underscored the need to reduce post-harvest losses in Africa by 50 percent by the year 2025.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) also recently urged Africa and the rest of the world to exert concerted efforts against post-harvest loss towards achieving the global target of Zero Hunger by 2030.
Figures from WFP also show that in some developing countries, up to 40 percent of food production is lost before it even leaves the farm gate, in which Sub-Saharan Africa alone loses 20 million metric tons of food each year during the weeks after harvest, which is valued at over 4 billion U.S. dollars.
The AU's call to reduce post-harvest loss and waste came ahead of the second All Africa Post-harvest Congress and Exhibition, slated from September 17 to 20 at the headquarters of the AU in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The four-day congress envisages to raise awareness on food losses and waste through data and information sharing, and showcase effective strategies, technologies, practices, initiatives for post-harvest loss reduction in Africa.
