At least 3 kg. of food grown in Mozambique’s fields is lost due to inefficient processing, transportation, and storage

70% of Mozambicans live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their livelihood. According to the World Bank, at least 3 kg of food grown in Mozambique’s fields is lost due to inefficient processing, transportation, and storage. Smallholder farmers, their families, and the communities who rely on them could face food insecurity as a result of this. In the central province of Tete, 50 per cent of post-harvest output is lost, a recent World Food Programme (WFP) survey found. More than 30 per cent of losses occur weeks after harvesting due to improper crop handling and ineffective home storage, which leads to an increased risk of post-harvest contamination and food poisoning. This hampers WFP’s efforts to enable a complete food system from ‘farm to fork’, taking care of production, storage, access to markets and food consumption, coupled with education on the preparation of more nutritious foods. To address this, WFP has implemented the Zero Post-Harvest Loss project in six ...