Improving food security in the Near East and

North Africa by reducing food losses and waste

and improving agri-food chain efficiency

Elhadi Yahia, Agro industry & Infrastructure

Officer, FAO/RNE, Cairo, Egypt

The Near East & North Africa Region is Food Insecure

Very limited natural resources (arable land, water), increased population, urbanization, dietary changes

Produce less than 50% its food needs

Imports more than 60% of its food

Very high economic cost, hunger, prices fluctuations, economic hardships on countries and individuals, social, political, etc

The problem is worsening

Increased food production

Land reclamation

Deforestation

Excessive use of very limited resources:

(land, water, energy, chemicals, etc)

Excessive imports

Food insecure region

Per capita food loss: up to 250 Kg/year

About 16 million tons of wheat are lost/year:

enough to feed up to 100 million people (biggest

wheat exporter in the world)

Egypt: About 2.5 million tons of wheat are lost/year,

valued USD 1 billion

Egypt: 11 billion EGP losses in wheat, tomatoes and

oranges per year

Iran: 35 - 70% of the 44 million tons produced are

lost, enough to feed more than 20 million people

Excessive food losses and waste

Marketing Loss and Economic Resources Losses for some

Vegetables and Fruit Crops in Saudi Arabia

product

Losses, %

Farmland

losses

1000 ha

Water

losses

Million m3

Chemical

fertilizers losses

1000 ton

Tomatoes 14 2.56 21.54 1.79

Cucumber 12.1 0.35 2.63 0.24

Potato 10 1.37 10.74 2.26

Onions 5.2 0.21 1.62 0.09

Watermelon 5 0.82 7.4 0.55

Melon 5 0.73 6.56 0.49

Grape 5 0.38 8.99 0.11

Dates 13.8 19.52 539.92 3.9

(Al-Kahtani and Kaleefah, 2008)

May 2012: NERC-31st

“Request to FAO to assist member

countries in addressing the key challenges

of reducing food waste and losses in the

Near East and North Africa by conducting

comprehensive studies on impact of food

losses and waste on food security in the

region and in establishing a plan to reduce

food losses and waste in the region by 50%

within 10 years”

Established Priorities

1. Include “Reduction of food losses and waste to improve

food security” in national POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

2. CAPACITY BUILDING, EDUCATION, AWARENESS,

ADVOCACY of all the chain stakeholders, including

producers and consumers, on value chain improvement,

value addition, quality and safety systems, R&D, advocacy

3. Improve FOOD VALUE CHAINS and increase VALUE

ADDITION

4. Improve the INFRASTRUCTURE and their application,

especially the COLD CHAIN (the most important and

indispensable technology)

5. INCREASE INVESTMENT in the sector

6. CREATE INCENTIVES for reducing food losses and waste

POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

Expert Consultation Meeting on Food

Losses and Waste Reduction in the Near

East Region: Towards a Regional

Comprehensive Strategy

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt 18-19 December, 2012

FOUR MAIN THEMES

The extents, effects and causes of food losses and waste in the region

Improving food security by reducing food losses and waste

Technical means to reduce food losses and waste,

Developing effective policies and strategies to reduce food losses and waste

Policies and Strategies

Comprehensive Studies on Food Losses and Waste:

to assess the knowledge we have, to establish data bases, to

identify gaps and areas for further study

Recompilation of all the studies done in

the region or on the region, regarding food

losses and waste up to now, 2014

Role of Agro-industry in Reducing Food Losses

in the Middle East and North Africa Region

Adel A. Kader et al. 2012, Available at:

http://neareast.fao.org

A strategy formed by 4 components, drawn from the

causes and represent areas of opportunity

Regional Strategic Framework for Food

Loss and Waste Reduction

DATA GATHERING, ANALYTICAL RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE

GENERATION

AWARENESS RAISING, PROMOTING GOOD PRACTICES

PROMOTING INVESTMENT AND ENGAGING THE PRIVATE SECTOR

POLICIES, REGULATIONS & STRENGTHEN COLLABORATION

AND COORDINATION

POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

Developing and implementing a REGIONAL

STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK to Reduce Food Losses

and Food Waste by 50% within 10 years

Research and Development

ACTIONS

ACTIVITIES

Raising Awareness and promoting good practices at all levels of the supply chain

ACTIONS

ACTIVITIES

Policy development, collaboration and

coordination

ACTIONS

ACTIVITIES

Investment in programmes and

projects

ACTIONS

ACTIVITIES

Save Food GLOBAL Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction

• The Strategic Framework for Food Losses and Waste Reduction

in the NENA Region discussed, refined and adopted by member

countries representatives and stakeholders

Strategic Framework Endorsed by NERC-32, Feb. 2014

Regional Strategic Framework

2014-2024

Endorsed by stakeholders, member countries, NERC 32

Developed through a consultative process: ECM Sharm

2012, RMSW Tunis 2013, External/internal review,

Extensive review of literature

Targeted national actions, regional collaboration

Closely aligned to SAVE FOOD, the Global Initiative on

Food Loss and Waste Reduction

The strategy emerged from analysis of the constraints

which have prevented FL&W reduction thus far: Inadequate data

Lack of awareness and technical capacity

Non-existent or inappropriate policies and regulations

Gaps in institutions and coordination

Insufficient investment

The strategy is formed by 4 components, which are drawn

from the constraints and represent areas of opportunity

Three considerations need to be

taken into account for

prioritizing action:

The value chains:

Commodity groups of economic,

cultural and agricultural relevance

The nature of the problem:

The stage(s) of the supply chain

primarily responsible for waste

The constraint:

Characteristics of national food systems

which have prevented FL&W reduction

thus far

The strategy is formed by 4 components, which represent

constraints and areas of opportunity

Data gathering, analytical research and knowledge generation

• Identifying data and information gaps

• Undertake joint research projects to generate data and analysis

• Collaborate with national and international research and development institutions

Awareness raising and promotion of good practices

• Developing public awareness campaigns

• Developing and promoting relevant and practical procedures and technologies

• Investing in capacity building

Develop policies and regulations, and strengthen collaboration, coordination and

networking

• Developing an enabling policy environment for FL&W reduction

• Ensuring collaboration and coordination between all agents of the food supply chain and other

stakeholders, including relevant government institutions

• Establishing regional and international networking

• Create a Coordination Mechanism for the Management of FL&W Reduction

Promoting investment and engaging the private sector

• Attracting investment to improve commodity supply chains

• Investing in appropriate farming technologies and household equipment

• Investments in use and reuse of FL&W

• Financing actions likely to have immediate impact

50% food losses and waste reduction is not only a target in

itself, but a pillar of REGIONAL FOOD SECURITY

The actions needed to reduce FLW will achieve a set of

interrelated objectives, with important links to FAO RNE

REGIONAL INITIATIVES

Increasing the efficiency of

the food system

RI FSN-resilience

Making better use of scarce

natural resources in

the food system

RI WSI

Increasing the agriculture

sector’s contribution to

growth and stability

RI SCA

Implementation and Follow-up

Key national role

Strategic national action

and regional collaboration

for FL&W reduction:

- Action planning and

implementation

- Coordination

- Monitoring and oversight

- Leadership at the regional level

Regional Movement

CFS-FAO Regional Multi-stakeholder Workshop and the NERC: provide occasion to take stock, share experience, and assess progress towards the regional goal of 50% FL&W reduction.

NENA Regional FL&W Network- a mechanism for knowledge sharing

Opportunities for bilateral, sub regional and regional collaborative action

Underpinning this is the support of FAO/RNE, FAO sub regional

offices, and FAO Representations in collaboration with RNE member

countries

Capacity building, education, awareness, advocacy

REGIONAL MULTI-STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP ON FOOD

SECURITY AND NUTRITION

Jointly organized by the FAO/RNE and the CFS, 17-18 September 2012, Sudan

Capacity building, education, awareness, advocacy

SAVE FOOD Regional Network: to strengthen

coordination among national and regional public and

private institutions, member countries to build a

COMMUNITY OF EXPERTISE ON FOOD

LOSSES AND WASTE IN OUR REGION

SAVE FOOD Regional Network

Coordinating Board

of the Network

Secretariat

F F F F F F 2 3

Regional States Level

1

NGOs

Research

Institutions

Universities

Private

Sector

F Focal

Point

WG2

WG1

WG3

4

Capacity building, education, awareness, advocacy

http://www.save-food.net/

A web-based integrated,

multilingual regional

information and

communication system

RNE Save Food online site for publications,

media, news and events

Capacity building, education, awareness, advocacy

Developed documentaries to raise awareness

Capacity building, education, awareness, advocacy

TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROGRAMME

(TCP): Capacity Building for Food Loss Reduction in

the Near East

A large scale educational training programme (including assessments and

workshops) to STRENGTHEN NATIONAL CAPACITY

of local leaders, managers and extension personnel in four countries on

improved

VALUE CHAIN MANAGEMENT

For food producers, handlers, processors, distributors and marketers.

Improve food value chains and value addition

Regional Workshop: Value addition and quality

and safety management systems,

Oman, 1-4 Dec 2012

Training program on honey value chain, UAE,

18-20 Nov 2013

Regional Workshop on the Improvement of the Dates

Value Chain in the Near East and North Africa Region

Kuwait, 9-12 Dec 2013

Regional Conference on Food Security and Income

Generation Through Reduction of Losses and Waste in

Fisheries, 24 – 26 Nov 2013, Mauritania

Improve food value chains and value addition

Value Chain Finance: Regional Training Workshop,

Khartoum, 11-14 Nov 2013

Translation into Arabic and

publishing of a book on Value Chain

Finance, 2013

Preparation and publishing of a Manual on

Value Chain of Beekeeping and Honey, 2014

MANUAL ON APICULTURE

A VALUABLE AND FEASIBLE

RURAL CRAFT

IMPROVMENT OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE: THE COLD CHAIN

Experts gathered to discuss,

1. Status and challenges of the cold chain in the:

- horticultural food industry

- fish industry

- dairy industry

- meat industry 2. Extension and technology transfer in the cold chain sector in the region

Improve cold chain infrastructure

Regional Training of Trainers on Means to

improve the Cold chain for Food Sector in the

MENA region, Morocco 28 - 31 May 2012

Cold Chain for Perishable

Foods, 2012

Developing a Cold Chain Policy Brief in the Near East and North Africa, 2014

This brief draws on regional expertise to provide a concise summary of the issue, the policy options to deal with it, and recommendations.

Building partnerships with organizations

who can benefit from reductions in food

losses and waste, or alternative uses for

food waste

- Feed hungry people

- Feed animals

- Feed plants (compost)

Initiatives & advances in some member countries

Saudi Arabia

Egypt

UAE

Iraq

Iran

Tunisia

Oman

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