Bundling innovations for
food loss and waste
reduction and improving
livelihoods
Rob Vos
12.3 Food Loss and Waste Event
IFPRI, WRI, Government of Denmark
March 14, 2023

Affordable
food
More jobs
Less poverty
Low env.
footprint
Overall objective
Influence policy and market
behavior for the creation of efficient,
inclusive value chains with fairer
income sharing, greater job creation,
and adoption of sustainable
practices
One CGIAR Research Initiative:
Rethinking Food Markets and Value Chains for
Inclusion and Sustainability

1. Quality-based contractual arrangements (beans, Guatemala):
• Directly incentivize farmers
• Link farmers to corporate buyers (quality)
• Premium for high quality beans
 Impact: reduction quality loss by 7%
2. Hermetically sealed storage bags (maize, Ethiopia):
• Prevent losses in storage
• More cost-effective than silos
 Impact: reduction quality loss by 9%
3. Solar-powered cold storage and transportation (fruits &
vegetables Coldhubs in Northern Nigeria)
• Women manage rental cold storage units, promote use of
crates by farmers
 Impact: reduction quantity loss from 30-40% to near 0% at
farm & wholesale stage (still high losses beyond). Economic
rate of return on solar-powered storage = 33%.
Photo credits: Eduardo Nakasone, and Coldhubs Nigeria
Findings from existing research:
There can be simple solutions for food loss
reduction

Need to take a broader approach: Bundling
innovations and interventions along supply chains
Solar-powered
cold chains
for
Fruit & Vegetables
Inclusive VC contracting and
business models
• More employment and
higher incomes (esp. for
women & youth)
• Less food loss
• Affordable healthy diets
• Lower GHG emissions

Bundled Innovations in F&V
chain in Nigeria
Process innovation
Off-grid cooling to reduce food loss
Cold storage and transportation
Plastic crates
Product innovation
Processing to add values (and reduce food
loss)
Improved quality seeds (East-West Seeds
International)
Improved information and transactions
Market information and coordination and
extension services
Certification and labels (product information)

So, there can be simple solutions,
but getting them to work is complex
because they work only if they:
- Incentivize farmers to reduce food
losses and improve food safety (price
premium on quality will help)
- Are cost effective (for farmer as well
as other actors and consumers)
- Work along entire value chains and
leverage private initiative (storage,
transport, wholesale, processing,
retail)
- Have a market, i.e. a market for better
quality and better conserved food
(quality standards may help)
Photo credits: Eduardo Nakasone, Luciana Delgado, IITA, Getty Images.