Africa cannot afford post-harvest losses; need for policies and technologies to enhance food security

Following the increase in post-harvest losses suffered on the continent, experts expressed the need for national governments to adopt strategies that would reduce losses by emphasizing effective policies and technology-driven interventions. .

These are the conclusions of the experts of the AATF 5^e webinar series on “Accelerating Access to Post-Harvest Management Technologies to Improve Food Security and Trade in Africa”.

Dr Emmanuel Okogbenin, director of program development and marketing at AATF, noted in a presentation that investments are needed in post-harvest management (PHM) to transform food systems according to the challenges of small farmers. in Africa.

Dr Okogbenin therefore suggested an integrated postharvest management system that combines the best of technologies to reduce costs and maximize yields. “Selling technologies at discounted prices for farmers to try out at home and see the value of purchasing and setting up demonstration trials for PHM technologies and the resulting harvest and impact.” . ”

According to him, 5 percent of investments in agricultural research over the past 30 years have been devoted to preventing post-harvest losses, a situation that must be urgently improved if the continent is to achieve food security.

Dr Komla Bissi, CAADP Pillar II Advisor to the African Union Commission, noted in his contribution that postharvest losses are not unique to Africa, as 1.3 billion metric tonnes of food accounting for about 30 percent of the world’s food produced is lost each year to display-related harvesting issues.

Dr Bissi, who spoke on “Creating an enabling environment for effective post-harvest management to facilitate regional trade in the context of AfCFTA: the role of regional bodies” said Africa was losing 100 million tonnes of food each year, which equates to $ 4 billion. . These losses have the potential to meet the food needs and needs of approximately 44 million people per year.

He said efforts must be intensified to ensure that the growing disparities between food production and losses are addressed if the continent is to achieve food security.

He cited the African Union’s Malabo Declaration that African governments signed to end hunger and food waste as a benchmark for governments to step up action on addressing issues related to post-harvest losses. .

“There is a need to improve the systemic capacities of national institutions across the continent. At the AU level, we are already working with national governments to develop strategies on how to reduce these losses, but there is a need to involve private sector actors as we strive to explore options to attract and increase funding to address this critical area, “he added.

Dr Gabriel Rugalema, regional director for the East and Southern Africa region, World Vegetable Center, said eliminating post-harvest losses is imperative for social, economic, environmental and food security reasons.

Dr Rugalema noted that the use of standard technologies and practices to reduce PHL exists and is accessible, but added that political will is urgently needed to support scale-up and adoption across the board. large scale of these technologies.

Rugalema, who spoke on “Private Sector Involvement in Post-Harvest Management: Access to Emerging Technologies and Opportunities,” said that in Africa all crops suffer from post-harvest losses more than any other continent. “Horticultural crops (vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices) are delicate and vulnerable to rapid post-harvest deterioration. ”

He cited the lack of post-harvest processing technologies, poor road infrastructure and unreliable markets as some of the main causes of post-harvest losses.

He believed there was no shortage of technologies to reduce or even eliminate post-harvest losses, but added that what is missing is expanding access to meet growing demand.

“There is a wide variety of technologies – simple (direct solar drying), intermediate (use of solar energy or small electrical equipment), industrial (medium and large-scale factories or factories to transform and enhance agricultural products). There is a need to develop / expand affordable and locally made technologies to meet demand ”.

Opeoluwa Fatomi, Founder, Plethora Farms, Nigeria, who presented a series of challenges facing food producers across Nigeria and some local strategies they introduced to cushion the impact of post-harvest losses noted that PHL threatens the continent’s efforts to achieve food security.

Fatomi said that already people facing the challenges of PHL were trying locally made technologies, such as slicing and drying tomatoes, using neem leaves as a preservative, husking corn as a preservation technique.

She suggested adherence to good agronomic practices, as well as effective planning and implementation of strategies that deal with PHL and, more importantly, the need to facilitate the introduction and production of cheaper technologies that deal with PHLs across the continent.