Cape Town - An estimated 45% of South Africa’s total available food supply is being lost or wasted yearly, with the primary production stage of the food cycle on farms being a major contributor.
However, less than 40% of farmers measure how much food is wasted during the farming process.
This was among the findings of a recent study conducted by The Behaviour Change Agency (BCA), a behavioural science research company from Cape Town. BCA was commissioned to do the research on behalf of WWF South Africa, the WWF Nedbank Green Trust and Food Forward.
The findings were released ahead of World Food Day, marked on Sunday.
Although food waste occurs across all stages of the food supply chain, a study by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research found that 34.3% of the total food waste in South Africa occurs at the primary production stage.
Off the back of this, the recent study probed farmers’ awareness, attitudes and behaviours around food waste, including the value they place on reducing food waste, and what their food waste management practices are, WWF said.
“Environmental factors were cited as one of the biggest contributors to food waste and loss. Unseasonal weather, destructive pests and diseases can damage entire crops at a time, leading to enormous wastage.
“Other significant factors were poor planning in the pre-harvest and production phase, incorrect use of pesticides and a lack of training,” WFF SA said.
South African farmers face unique challenges that contribute to food waste and loss, such as disruption in cold chains due to load shedding and damage to trucks and re-routing delays due to riots and unrest.
The study also found that South African farmers were highly motivated with 100% of respondents saying they were motivated and eager to address food waste on their farms.
“This motivation stemmed from both a financial and a moral drive towards increasing food security. “This means that, although farmers face numerous barriers when trying to implement food waste management strategies, they are up for the challenge. The next step for researchers is to devise behavioural change interventions that can be tested at farm level,” WWF SA said.
Meanwhile, in light of World Food Day, non-profit food redistribution organisation, FoodForward SA (FFSA) launched its new fit-for-purpose foodbanking facility in Lansdowne. “The new facility is an evolution of how we innovatively address food insecurity, allowing for larger warehouse space and cold chain capability, while also having our national head office under the same roof,” said Andy Du Plessis, Managing Director of FFSA.
“This impetus will allow for further scaling up of our unique foodbanking model, making sure that we reach millions more suffering from malnutrition and severe hunger.”
FoodForward SA aims to address widespread food insecurity using a unique model that involves the in-time recovery of quality, edible surplus food from the consumer goods supply chain and redistributes it to local organisations that implement feeding programmes in under-served communities. They provide this edible surplus food to 2,750 charities within its national network every month, reaching 950,000 vulnerable people daily with food.
Cape Times