Reducing On-Farm Food Losses
In the OIC Member Countries
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
From October-December 2015, the Post-Harvest Education Foundation (PEF) and the World
Food Logistics Organization (WFLO) assessed on-farm losses to provide recommendations to
reduce such losses in the OIC Member Countries. Existing literature cites on-farm losses
throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East as ranging from 23-39%. Globally, the highest on-
farm losses have been described for fruits and vegetables, followed by cereals in South and
Southeast Asia and roots and tubers in Sub-Saharan Africa. When converted into calories, global
food loss and waste amounts to approximately 24 percent of all food produced.
Section 1 of this report provides a conceptual framework for the assessment of on-farm food
losses, building on standard definitions by FAO, WRI and the SAVE FOOD Initiative to determine
appropriate definitions and examples for each food group studied: cereals, roots and tubers,
oilseeds and pulses, fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy products, and fish and seafood. For
the purposes of this study, the boundaries of on-farm losses were defined from production to
farm gate, which includes growing, harvesting and on-farm handling.
The literature review in Section 2 offers an overview of the levels, types and relative importance
of on-farm food losses for the six food groups in the OIC Member Countries. The countries with
the most available data on many different crops and foods include Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey and Uganda. Cereals demonstrated high losses of 10-50%, with roots
and tubers at 10-80%. Oilseeds and pulses revealed losses of 5-34%, with fruits and vegetables
ranging from 3-43%. Meat and dairy losses ranged between 3-52%. In the literature, fish and
seafood losses are divided into quantity and quality losses of 5-100% and 12-70%, respectively.
Key informant surveys verified these findings.
Section 3 details eight case studies of on-farm losses using a modified Commodity Systems
Assessment Methodology (CSAM).
 Maize in Uganda reported 10-45% with extreme defects or decay after two-four weeks
of on-farm storage with overall economic losses calculated at US$70-126 million.
 Sweetpotato in Nigeria reported on-farm losses of 1-20%, with an economic value of
between US$6-17.2 million.
 Cassava, also in Nigeria, reported 1-10% for a related value of US $18-90 million. The
lost cassava could feed 10% of Nigeria’s population for a full year.
 Groundnut in Benin showed losses estimated at 10-15% for a related value of $600,000-
6.3 million, depending on the season.
 Observed tomato losses in Egypt ranged from 0-45%. Harvested four times each year, a
conservative estimate of 15-20% equates 1.28-2.17 million tonnes for approximately
US$255-340 million in annual lost earnings.
 Plantains in Uganda reported 0-30% loss, with an economic value in the range of US$54-
63 million per year.