Reducing On-Farm Food Losses
In the OIC Member Countries
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vegetables, commodities that are under-researched, within this context also the
development of locally adapted varieties and planting material.
 Extension or Training Needs: Most of the causes of on-farm losses identified in this
study can be addressed via improved training, extension and outreach activities. It is
highly recommended that the OIC Member Countries focus attention on providing
farmers with information and demonstrations of the basic practices that protect foods
from on-farm losses such as integrated pest management, sanitation and hygiene, use of
maturity indices, gentle harvesting and handling, proper curing of roots and tubers or
drying of cereals, pulses, and oilseeds, use of protective containers and providing shade
and cooling during delays after harvesting. Teaching farmers about costs and benefits
can be a key factor in their understanding of and willingness to try out and adopt new
on-farm practices and technologies.
 Advocacy issues: These are problems found at the macro level, and that must be
addressed by policy makers and investors. In the various OIC Member Countries, these
include missing infrastructure, lack of access to extension services, poorly regulated
input suppliers (i.e. poor quality seeds or feeds), poorly regulated contracting practices,
and lack of access to credit. Farmers may require information and benefit from support
for the formation and/or strengthening of producer groups.
The following policy recommendations and proposals for solutions for the OIC Member
Countries are provided for fighting against on-farm food losses. These recommendations relate
to the identified research and extension needs and advocacy issues. They are intended to be
practical, concrete, and open to collaborative efforts. They are consistent with available
resources since they can be implemented on a small, medium or large scale, over the short or
longer term, as resources allow.
6.2 Domestic Policies
The following recommendations are provided for direct action of the OIC Member Country
governments and implementing agencies on issues related to domestic policies.
6.2.1. Closing Knowledge and Data Gaps
This study compiled the existing data and conducted eight case studies, but found many gaps for
countries, crops and food products. There is a lot of missing information in every OIC Member
Country.
Full scale food loss assessment studies for specific foods have been completed for too few OIC
Member Countries. To date, this list includes on Guyana, Nigeria, Tajikistan, and Turkey. These
studies generally require 3-4 weeks per commodity, and $20,000-$30,000 to field a team of
experts. The field visits for the case studies undertaken for this analytical study added useful