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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

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researcher spotlight

Samuel Benin

Samuel Benin is the Acting Director for Africa in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He conducts research on national strategies and public investment for accelerating food systems transformation in Africa and provides analytical support to the African Union’s CAADP Biennial Review.

Where we work

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Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Markets, Trade, and Institutions

Luciana Delgado

Senior Research Analyst

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Luciana Delgado3

Bio

Luciana Delgado is a Senior Research Analyst in the Markets, Trade, And Institutions Unit, with experience ranging from agribusiness to value chains to agrifood systems as well as agronomy. At IFPRI, Luciana works on global, regional, and local value chains; agroindustry; and food losses. Prior to joining IFPRI, she worked with the private sector in agroindustry. Her expertise lies in strengthening agricultural research and development programs, upgrading value chains, measurement of and interventions to reduce food losses across the value chain, food waste measurement, and assessing market opportunities for linking smallholders to dynamic markets. Her regional experience encompasses Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Luciana has published several peer-reviewed academic articles including in Food Policy, AEPP, and Rural Studies. and she holds a PhD in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation from Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands.

Publications

Google Scholar Citations

Research Gate Profile

Publications

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Journal Article

Food losses in agrifood systems: What we know

2023Delgado, Luciana; Schuster, Monica; Torero, Maximo
Details

Food losses in agrifood systems: What we know

In 2015, the United Nations and the G20 put food loss and food waste on the global agenda. While progress has been made since then, the scale of the problem persists because food loss and food waste are measured together, not separately. The paucity of data also poses a challenge. This article reviews the measurements, causes, and determinants of food loss as well as the interventions to reduce it. The review finds that food loss is considered in isolation, even though it is one of the causes and results of how agrifood systems function. The review calls for improved microdata collection and standardized measurements to separate food loss from food waste. Such efforts would help integrate feedback loops and cascading effects across the value chain with agrifood systems to identify intervention hot spots, trade-offs, and synergies of interventions as well as the effects of food loss reduction on socioeconomic, environmental, and food security goals.

Year published

2023

Authors

Delgado, Luciana; Schuster, Monica; Torero, Maximo

Citation

Delgado, Luciana; Schuster, Monica; and Torero, Maximo. 2023. Food losses in agrifood systems: What we know. Annual Review of Resource Economics 15: 41-62. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-072722-025159

Keywords

Data; Data Collection; Food Losses; Food Waste; Value Chain Analysis; Agrifood Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-072722-025159 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Role of soil perception and soil variability by smallholder farmers in the low adoption rates of extension packages in Central America

2022Delgado, Luciana; Stoorvogel, Jetse J.
Details

Role of soil perception and soil variability by smallholder farmers in the low adoption rates of extension packages in Central America

Food systems are under pressure to produce more food of higher quality while reducing the pressure on natural resources. Currently, land degradation is widespread, especially in areas with smallholder farming. Agricultural extension may help farmers to adopt sustainable practices. However, adoption rates of interventions are often low in smallholder farming. This paper carries out an ex-ante analysis to determine to what extent the perception of soil characteristics (land cover, slope, soil organic matter, surface stoniness, and texture) and soil variability (how much acid or basic is the soil, i.e., pH level, and level of electric conductivity-EC) limit adoption with the final goal to design better policies to crop productivity. Differences in the perception of soil characteristics and variability between farmers and agricultural specialists, may result in situations where technological packages arrive at farms that are not likely to adopt or do not arrive at farmers that are likely to adopt. This paper studies differences in perception of soil characteristics and soil variability between agricultural specialists and farmers. Smallholder farmers in Central America producing beans were found to have different perceptions of soil characteristics relative to agricultural specialists. In addition, soil variability was considerable. As a result, it is concluded that soil perception and soil variability are likely causes of low adoption rates. Reducing the information gap with respect to the real needs of farmers will make policies more effective, resulting in higher adoption rates of new technologies and increased productivity.

Year published

2022

Authors

Delgado, Luciana; Stoorvogel, Jetse J.

Citation

Delgado, Luciana; and Stoorvogel, Jetse J. 2022. Role of soil perception and soil variability by smallholder farmers in the low adoption rates of extension packages in Central America. Journal of Rural Studies 93(July 2022): 92-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.05.009

Keywords

Central America; Northern America; Americas; Senses; Fertilizers; Soil; Farmers; Technology; Agriculture; Smallholders; Adoption; Agricultural Technologies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.05.009 Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Journal Article

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Working Paper

State of the knowledge on food waste in the world

2021Delgado, Luciana; Torero, Máximo
Details

State of the knowledge on food waste in the world

Food waste refers to the decrease in the quantity or quality of food resulting from decisions and actions by retailers, food service providers, and consumers. Since the United Nations have made halving food waste a Sustainable Development Goals target, food waste has captured public attention. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that up to 811 million people were hungry in 2020, and with a staggering 3 billion people that cannot afford a healthy diet (FAO, 2021), therefore the reduction of food waste becomes even more important. By reducing waste, we can improve food availability and food access without increasing agricultural inputs, scarce natural resources, or affecting our environment more. However, waste can only be reduced if we understand its causes. In developed countries they are more related to consumer over consumption behavior and lifestyle, to legislation, to business management and economies setting standards which could by itself end creating big waste. In developing countries, they are linked to inappropriate packaging, unpurchased holiday foods, inadequate storage, and overstocking, mishandling of products by (potential) consumers, and to technology which is not design to minimize waste. Up to today there is very limited evidence of impacts of interventions to reduce waste, and even less on their cost effectiveness. The introduction of technologies, innovative solutions, new working methods, and good practices to manage food quality and reduce food waste are essential to progress on the achievement of SDG 12.3.1 of halving food waste by 2030.

Year published

2021

Authors

Delgado, Luciana; Torero, Máximo

Citation

Delgado, Luciana; and Torero, Maximo. 2022. State of the knowledge on food waste in the world. Washington, DC: International Food Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll2/id/134922

Keywords

Food Wastes; Food Losses; Food Security; Knowledge

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper

Events

Food Loss and Waste in Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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March 14, 2023, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Food Loss and Waste in Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains

Virtual Event: March 14, 2023 – 9:30 AM- 11:00 AM EST. The seminar will take a closer look at fruits and vegetables, which are among the healthiest but most wasted foods. Given their perishable nature, great care, attention, and cooperation along all parts of fruit and vegetable value chains are required to reduce food loss and waste.

2018 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting
IFPRI at External Event

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August 5 to 7, 2018

2018 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting

IFPRI will participate in the 2018 AAEA meeting. The AAEA addresses agricultural economics, international and rural development, and more.

News

November 20, 2019 | In the News

Food loss and waste and key to achieving SDG 2

Financial Nigeria published an article on how Nigeria is dealing with food loss and waste. An IFPRI report was quoted about food loss in developing countries. “Food loss during production, trade, and processing tends to outweigh food waste occurring at the retail and consumer stages of the supply chain.”