The United Nations has recognized the importance of reducing food loss and waste in the Sustainable Development Goal target 12.3 to “halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses” by 2030.

Despite broad interest in the problem, measurement of food loss and waste is problematical, especially in developing countries. Most calculations use aggregate data from food balance sheets provided by national or local authorities. These estimations are subject to considerable measurement error, rely on proxy data, or are not necessarily based on representative samples. Alternative micro-calculations are often based on case studies that are not representative of larger populations. Additionally, analysts use different definitions of food loss, hampering comparisons across different areas and crops. As a result, estimates of food losses are widely variable and do not provide robust evidence for interventions to reduce them.

In this webinar, we will discuss a methodology to measure food losses developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) team working under the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM). The survey-based methodology has three main innovations. First, it allows measurement across different nodes of agricultural value chains to pinpoint the locus of loss. Second, it includes the economic value of loss due to quality deterioration as well as physical reduction in quantity. And finally, it characterizes and identifies particular processes in the value chain where food losses occur.

We will present the results of the application of the method in the value chains of maize and beans (in Guatemala and Honduras), teff (in Ethiopia), wheat (in China), and potatoes (in Ecuador and Peru). We will also discuss ongoing work to assess interventions to reduce loss.