Efficiency and Resource Implications of Food Losses and Waste in sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110204
Author(s):  
Emerta Aragie
Keyword(s):  
Balance Sheet ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Food Losses ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Food Commodities ◽  
Rich Data ◽  
United Nations Food

Reducing the huge level of food losses and waste is arguably one of the sustainable ways of closing the food requirement gap in developing countries. Examining selected sub-Saharan Africa countries and utilizing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Food Balance Sheet data, this study suggests that these countries lose over 29% (58.8 million tons) of the primary equivalent component of food. Exploiting the rich data on water and land footprints of food commodities, this study also identified considerable losses in resources – 21% of total water use and 15% of cropland use – associated with the food supply chain losses, with noticeable implications for agricultural sustainability.

scholarly journals Does reducing food losses and wastes in sub-Saharan Africa make economic sense?

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 483-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emerta Aragie ◽  
Jean Balié ◽  
Cristian MoralesOpazo
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Food Type ◽  
Calorie Intake ◽  
Balance Sheets ◽  
Adequate Knowledge ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food Requirement ◽  
Food Losses ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Sub Saharan

Reducing food losses and waste (FLW) is one of the sustainable ways of closing the food requirement gap in developing countries. However, there is not yet adequate knowledge on the extent of FLW by commodity type and stage of the food supply chain (FSC). Focusing on ten agrarian countries in Africa and building mainly on the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Balance Sheets (FBSs), this study generates some new insights on the level of FLW by country, FSC and food type. Across the FSC, we find that these countries lose a cumulative amount equivalent to 28% (641 kilocalories per capita per day – kcal/cap/day) of the current calorie intake. Within the FSC, the production and post-harvest handling stages contribute the greater shares of the total losses with 38% or 244 kcal/cap/day and 34% or 218 kcal/cap/day, respectively. Our results also show that farm incomes would increase by 20% if the avoidable losses and waste were recovered. These results are troublesome given the level of poverty and food insecurity in these countries and suggest inefficient and unsustainable use of natural resources (water and cropland) associated with the FSC losses.

scholarly journals Food Security and Climate Change in Sub-Saharan Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 31-41
Author(s):  
Chase McGowan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Detrimental Impact

Climate change is predicted to have a detrimental impact on food security throughout the world, but the poorest regions are likely to be the most affected. The Food and Agriculture Organization identifies four aspects of food security: availability, access, stability and utilization. This literature review examines the predicted impacts of climate change on food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. First, an analysis of the scientific literature was undertaken to investigate the potential impact of climate change on each of these four aspects. Second, policies relating to food security and climate change of key UN bodies, international non-profit organizations, and national governments in Sub-Saharan Africa were examined. Overall, there is extensive evidence that climate change will negatively impact each of the four aspects of food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Until now, international organizations and national governments have failed to adopt comprehensive policies to adapt to climate change. To be effective, efforts to address the problem should combine social and development aspects.

scholarly journals Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly Essential Oils Extracted from Pineapple Waste

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 6833-6844
Keyword(s):  
Essential Oil ◽  
Essential Oils ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Ananas Comosus ◽  
Pineapple Waste ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Aldehydes And Ketones ◽  
United Nations Food

Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merril), one of the major fruit crops, is mainly used for raw consumption and for industrial juice production, which creates large amounts of residues. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that pineapple waste accounts for between 50 to 65 % of the total weight of the fruit. Industrial pineapple waste is a major source of pollution as important quantities of primary residues are not further processed. Pineapple waste contains bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, polyphenols, fibers, vitamins, enzymes, and essential oils. These phytochemicals can be used in the food industry, medicine and pharmacy, textile, and others. This review highlights essential oil and other bioactive compounds extracted from pineapple waste and the composition of pineapple essential oil. Pineapple peels are the potential raw material for essential oil extraction through various methods. Modern spectrometric methods have shown that essential oil extracted from pineapple waste comprises esters, alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones. From this overview, it can be concluded that there is an important need for further research into pineapple waste as a potential source of valuable byproducts, as well as new techniques to studying industrial organic residuals to achieve higher recovery rates of valuable bioactive compounds used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetic and chemical industries as well as for developing new functional foods.

Le Bagne

2020 ◽  
pp. 217-226
Author(s):  
Charles Forsdick
Keyword(s):  
French Guiana ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Penal Colony ◽  
Penal Colonies ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Postcolonial Politics

The bagne retains an ambiguous status as a lieu de mémoire, in part because of its predominantly extra-metropolitan location, in part because most understandings of the institution rely heavily on representations freighted via literature, film and graphic fiction. In French Guiana and New Caledonia, the bagne was nevertheless the major driver in the attempted mise en valeur of those colonies in the face of varying degrees of resistance to settlement. Moreover, France’s carceral archipelago extended beyond those key sites to include penal colonies in North and Sub-Saharan Africa as well as Indochina. The essay scrutinizes the rich body of material that has served as a vehicle for memories of the institution, but uses a focus on contemporary memorial practices in French Guiana and New Caledonia to suggest a distinct divergence in forms of interpretation, especially regarding the place of the penal colony in colonial expansionism. Although until recent years the bagne has often acted as more of a postcolonial lieu d’oubli, in a context of complex postcolonial politics and of growing interest in penal heritage its status as a lieu de mémoire is becoming increasingly apparent.

Distribution of Food in a Specialized Hospital Using Ambient Intelligence to Improve a Model of Macroergonomics

2019 ◽  
pp. 231-241
Author(s):  
Alberto Ochoa Zezzatti ◽  
Juan Luis Hernandez Arellano ◽  
Gilberto Rivera ◽  
Daniel Azpeitia ◽  
Luis Fernando Maldonado
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Ambient Intelligence ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Specialized Hospital ◽  
United Nations Food ◽  
Latin American Countries

SIDA (Intelligent Food Distribution System, for its acronym in Spanish) is a proposed tool for the distribution of food that can be personalized depending on the medical characteristics of each patient. The target of the tool is to provide foods that contain higher nutrients in the diet set by a hospital. A model of decision trees was based on data from the organization of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and used for decision making in the simulated three basic foods based on the diet of Latin American countries typically integrated by rice, potatoes, and lentils from the parameters of fat, energy, and protein, respectively, that contains every type of food.

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