Reducing On-Farm Food Losses
In the OIC Member Countries
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5. CURRENT RESOURCE ASSESSMENT OF OIC MEMBER COUNTRIES FOR
REDUCING ON-FARM LOSSES
The current status and availability of resources that are presently mobilized to reduce on-farm
losses in the OIC Member Countries varies widely by the region, key crops and food products,
per capita income, and degree and strength of linkages that have been established with the
global community.
5.1 Global and Regional Resources
Many programs, projects and recent studies are focusing on the problem of food losses and
waste. Traditionally 95% of agricultural research and extension efforts have targeted
production and been aimed at increasing yields and reducing on-farm food losses via improved
seeds and planting materials, cultivation practices, fertilization, irrigation, pest management
and sustainable production practices (IFPRI study cited in Kader and Rolle 2005). Virtually
every agricultural study and program includes these on-farm aspects, while in the past decade,
a move toward consideration of the entire food value chain has emerged, and so postharvest
handling, storage, processing, distribution and marketing aspects of agriculture have begun to
gain more attention.
Globally there are currently many existing and new programs and projects targeting reduction
of food losses and waste, each of which includes on-farm losses:
 FAO Postharvest Information Network (INPhO);
 SAVE FOOD Initiative on Global food losses and waste (joint effort of FAO, WFP, UNDP);
 Stop Food Waste (European Commission);
 World Food Programme mitigating food losses in food deficit countries;
 Rockefeller Foundation’s Global Knowledge Initiative on reduction of postharvest loss;
 World Food Preservation Center;
 ADM Institute for Prevention of Postharvest Loss;
 Feed the Future Postharvest Innovation Labs;
 Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR); and
 Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC).
Studies and actions targeting on-farm losses continue to be a part of this new wave of programs
and projects that work on research and extension to reduce food losses and waste along food
supply chains. Staple foods like cereals and pulses are being given the vast majority of attention,
and horticultural crops like roots, tubers, fruits, and vegetables are included in a few programs.
But there are not many on the ground practical initiates that put real implementable solutions
into the hands of smallholder farmers.
Individual OICmember countries are part of many other global and regional alliances. They have
access to the CGIAR system and their many research institutes. One example is the on-going
work of AVRDC and IITA. AVRDC and IITA develop effective and simple diagnostic tools for