Initiative responds to call by G20 agriculture ministers to tackle global problem of food loss/waste and eliminate global undernutrition.

December 4, 2015

1 Min Read
New knowledge-sharing initiative looks at food loss, waste

The U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the CGIAR research program on Policies, Institutions & Markets (PIM) has launched a new initiative to enhance global cooperation on measuring and reducing food loss and waste.

The G20 agriculture ministers requested FAO and IFPRI launch this initiative during their meetings last May in Istanbul, Turkey.

The "Technical Platform on the Measurement & Reduction of Food Loss & Waste" is an information-sharing and coordination network involving diverse stakeholders, such as international organizations, development banks, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

Platform partners will work together to enhance the measurement of food loss and waste, exchange knowledge and information and share best practices to tackle the global challenges of food loss and waste.

"The G20 Platform will enhance our capacity to accurately measure food loss and waste, both in the G20 countries and in low-income countries," FAO director-general Jose Graziano da Silva said. "It will bring new expertise and knowledge for improving metrics. It will also respond to countries' need for knowledge and good practices."

"We must coordinate global efforts to reduce food loss and waste to enhance our ability to sustainably eliminate global hunger and undernutrition," IFPRI director-general Shenggen Fan added. "This new platform is a critical step in this direction."

Currently, one-third of global food production — enough food to feed 2 billion people for a year — is lost or wasted annually. The G20 agriculture ministers noted the significant food loss and waste throughout food value chains as "a global problem of enormous economic, environmental and societal significance."

Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Feedstuffs is the news source for animal agriculture

You May Also Like