Efficiency and resource implications of food losses and waste in sub-Saharan Africa

Reducing the huge level of food losses and waste is arguably one of the sustainable ways of closing the food requirement gap in developing countries. Examining selected sub-Saharan Africa countries and utilizing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Food Balance Sheet data, th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Aragie, Emerta A.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127905
Descripción
Sumario:Reducing the huge level of food losses and waste is arguably one of the sustainable ways of closing the food requirement gap in developing countries. Examining selected sub-Saharan Africa countries and utilizing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Food Balance Sheet data, this study suggests that these countries lose over 29% (58.8 million tons) of the primary equivalent component of food. Exploiting the rich data on water and land footprints of food commodities, this study also identified considerable losses in resources – 21% of total water use and 15% of cropland use – associated with the food supply chain losses, with noticeable implications for agricultural sustainability.