Preserving the Harvest

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Over the years, in spite of the investments towards achieving food and nutrition security, anecdotal evidence indicates that globally this is yet to be achieved. This raise concerns on; what happens to the food we produce? One key bottleneck in the food system in poor post-harvest food management- food loss and waste. An alarming 30-40% of what is produced is lost and wasted, meaning with that is invested to provide people with food, the investment does not materialize.
Post-harvest food losses and waste have negative implications to the economy, environment and social fabric of the society. Not only is food lost in quantitative terms, which in itself leads to a reduction of available food for consumption worsening the food insecurity situation, but also monetary, natural and time resources are lost. Economically, post-harvest losses translate to wasted investment that went into production as well as loss of potential incomes. Environmentally, food production contributes to greenhouse gas emission which worsens when food waste decomposes as it releases methane. This is a double tragedy as food production and subsequent value chain activities also contribute to greenhouse gas emission. Apart from the greenhouse gases, urban waste (which is a challenge to manage) is mainly composed of organic waste at rates of between 60-80%, which further degrades the environment and leads to methane emissions.
Nearly 80 percent of Kenya’s population rely on agri-food systems for their food, employment, income, and other wellbeing and thus food loss and waste a bottleneck in ensuring resilience and emergence out of the poverty cycle as investments in production are not profitable if the resultant product does not earn revenue due to losses. Therefore, for the country to achieve its potential from the agricultural sector through bountiful harvests as more investments are made in improving productivity, the same attention needs to be put in post-harvest management of food to ensure the produce is not wasted.
Despite these huge PHLs, Kenya does not have a specific official strategy nor legislations that explicitly guides post- harvest management in Kenya. The interventions through various projects and partners both by the private and public sector therefore do not have a central road map or reporting mechanism. It is important that as mitigation measures are developed, the country can track progress, identify challenges/gaps in interventions for strategic intervention. Beyond national progress, a strategy can also serve as guide in linking the country progress to regional, continental and global indicators of progress on food loss and waste measures. To address this gap, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations- FAO, in Kenya, has developed a TCP program to support Kenya, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, to support development of a post-harvest management strategy.
The presence of the guiding frameworks set a foundation to develop a Kenya post-harvest losses strategy to effectively guide and coordinate post-harvest loss reduction initiatives at the County and National Levels for key food supply chains in Kenya. The national strategy can therefore be anchored on these continental and global polices that will ensure Kenya is not left behind in the efforts of addressing post-harvest losses and waste both regionally and globally.
The program is further supporting awareness creation on the matter, which is also a key component of the strategy. Towards having material that reflect the FLW situation in Kenya that can be used even after the program has ended, services were contracted to develop a mini documentary showing both the challenge and solutions as well as household relatable clips that can be used through various platforms and events. The communication material is aimed at spurring conversation geared towards acknowledging FLW as well as conversation on solutions that are practical and can contribute to its reduction.
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