Reducing food loss can
help to increase the amount of food that reaches market, helping to make the
food system more sustainable. TechnoServe is working with The Rockefeller
Foundation in Kenya to optimize the reduction of loss in the mango value chain
One of the primary
inefficiencies of the global food system is food loss and waste. Food loss
happens in various parts of the value chain. Some crops are destroyed in the
field before ever making it to market. Other crops are harvested and then spoil
on the way to market. Consumers contribute to food waste every time someone
goes grocery shopping and throws out fruits and vegetables before eating. It is
estimated that almost 30 percent of the
world’s agricultural land is devoted to producing food that will never even be
eaten because of these inefficiencies.
Fruits and vegetables
have particularly high rates of loss; the Food and Agriculture Organization
estimates losses for these commodities to be between 37 and 55 percent.
Building upon knowledge of the mango value chain from Project Nurture,
TechnoServe has partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation to implement the
YieldWise initiative in Kenya. The initiative has piloted several technologies
to help reduce post-harvest loss, while training smallholders, stimulating the
market demand for mangoes and connecting farmers with buyers and giving them
access to innovative finance mechanisms. Building off the first phase of on the
ground testing, YieldWise hopes to reduce losses from 21 percent to 10 percent
by the end of the initiative.
As of December 2015,
TechnoServe had facilitated increased buyer demand by linking nine buyers to
farmers and farmer business organizations. Over 4,100 farmers had received
training on three main topics: agronomy, including post-harvest management;
farmer group governance; and business skills.
More Mangoes and More Income
Joyce Musya, a mother of
three and the vice secretary of the Upendo Fruit Farmers Self Help Group, is
one mango farmer seeing reduced loss because of these interventions.
Previously, she was losing almost 2,000 mangoes – or 20 percent of her harvest
– each season to fruit flies and mango rust disease. Once the mangoes were
exposed to mango rust, they no longer met export standards, which meant that
Joyce was unable to sell to large exporters, and had to sell a lower quality
crop for as low as $118 for the entire season, greatly reducing her income.
After years, of
frustration with her mango crop, Joyce was ready to replace her mango tree with
oranges, meaning she would have to wait almost three years until the trees
matured before she would have a new crop. But after interventions from
TechnoServe, where she learned about good agricultural practices, Joyce invested
in fruit fly traps and began a proper spraying practice to protect her mangoes
from rust. She was able to sell over 8,000 mangoes the following season for
$522.
With this increase in
income she is now able to pay school fees for her two sons currently in university.
She feels empowered and excited for the next mango season, where she is hoping
to increase her harvest even more, and put the profits of her harvest towards
renovating her home.
When farmers are able to
harvest more of their crops, it helps to not only increase their incomes, but
to create a more efficient and sustainable food system. Preventing post harvest
losses is an important step in working towards feeding the world’s population
and using
http://www.technoserve.org/blog/improving-efficiency-in-the-food-system-in-kenya
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