Reducing On-Farm Food Losses
In the OIC Member Countries
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The information presented above does not yet exist for the OIC Member Countries, but further
in this report, Table 2.2 contains findings on the OIC Member Countries based the surveys and
Table 2.3 demonstrates global losses and waste estimates by the FAO in comparison with
COMCEC Analytical Study Findings. In addition, Tables 2.4 through 2.9 provide information on
losses and on-farm losses in different food groups.
Despite many technical improvements in production, harvesting, and postharvest management
since the 1970s when food losses were first measured by FAO, food losses are still significant
today. Losses vary by crop, variety, year, climate, storage type, drying method, handling
techniques, transportation methods, distribution system, and infestation magnitude. General
causes of losses include financial, managerial and technical limitations in production practices,
harvesting techniques, and postharvest handling technologies (Hussein 2005).
1.5 The Relative Importance of On-Farm Losses
As demonstrated by Table 1.3 above, Lipinski et al (2013) provided estimates of the production
and harvesting and postharvest handling and storage losses for three regions of the world where
OIC Member Countries are located, based on the estimates and assumptions used in the report
of Gustavsson et al (2011). The percentages of production and harvesting losses range from23%
in North Africa, West and Central Asia; 32% in South and Southeast Asia; and 39% in Sub-
Saharan Africa.
On-farm losses occur during production and at the time of harvesting. The immediate losses in
food calories, nutrition and monetary value are borne directly by the farmers. Postharvest
handling that takes place on the farm after the harvest can then either protect foods from losses
or become an added cause of losses. Reducing food losses on the farm can therefore increase
incomes and directly alleviate poverty. Lipinski et al (2013) provides the following examples:
 Reducing physical losses can increase the amount of food available to farmers for their
own consumption or for sale to market.
 Reducing food losses can reduce the likelihood small-holders becoming net food buyers.
 Reducing quality losses can better maintain the nutritional value of food.
 Reducing food losses increases the return on investment of time spent on farming and
could reduce the total time needed to work in the fields. This is especially important for
smallholder farmers and women.
The percentages of postharvest handling and storage losses in these three regions are similar in
relative importance to those of production and harvesting, but it is not possible to determine
whether these losses took place on the farm or not. In the case of the FAO estimates, some of the
original data used to calculate estimates includes on-farm handling practices and some of the
data does not. For example, data on cereals losses may or may not include losses during on-farm
drying and bulk storage, while data on fruit losses may or may not include losses due to damage
during packing and loading.