According to the latest progress report for the Sustainable Development Goals, about 8 per cent of all food produced in the world is lost on the farm, 14 per cent is lost between the farm gate and the retail sec­tor, and 17 per cent is wasted at the retail, food service provider and household levels.

What is disturbing here is that these figures haven’t changed significantly in the past decade. Roughly 40 per cent of food still doesn’t get where it is meant to go, namely to the stomachs of the consumers. But hasn’t any progress at all been made in terms of food loss and waste? Or don’t we simply have any reliable methods to adequately assess the phenome­non? The answer is that both applies.

A recent study by the UK’s University of Greenwich arrives at the con­clusion that food loss and waste measurements are usually aggregated from relatively small samples to national levels. This can result in vol­umes being considerably under- or overrated. Moreover, while we have a good knowledge of the problem in developed countries, above all of waste, little is known about that phenomenon in low- and middle-income countries. The question arising here is how to tackle a problem which can’t be properly measured.

While keeping these shortcomings in mind, we have asked our authors to present innovative, practical and, above all, scalable solutions from the fields they work in which can contribute to less food being wasted – for global food and nutrition security, for the economy, for the environment and for our climate.

Focus
SDG Target 12.3 – where are the stumbling blocks?
Measuring food loss and waste – instruments, challenges and global perspectives
Why we need to go beyond technology
Motivation factors for food waste reduction
Unleashing the power of innovation
Bridging the cooling gap through digitalisation
"If we only rely on safe bets, we will miss out on big opportunities"
Metal silo, beyond minimising food losses – Ethiopian experience
Transforming by-products into resources – circular economy approaches for agricultural products
Turning cocoa waste into a high-quality product for confectionery
From innovation to upscaling – circular economy in the rural-urban nexus
From waste to wealth – biomass solutions (not only) for India’s food loss challenge
Opinion
"We have to align the transformation agenda with African realities"

Scientific World
Biodiversity-smart agriculture – the role of labour requirements
Zero soil movement – adopting new techniques in potato production

International Platform
Woody weeds – the underestimated threat to biodiversity READ more from the link above