Post-harvest Losses: Threat to General Food Security

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The reality of the problem of post harvest losses in the nations of the world suggests that it is undermining our efforts towards food sufficiency. Over the years successive governments mostly in the developing nations have introduced programmes aimed at building our capacity for food production. Among these are Green Revolution, National Accelerated Food Project, Agricultural Development Projects (ADPS), as well as publicly financed institutions such as the River Basin Authorities, Directorate of Foods and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI).

The impact of all these measures taken by the nations’ governments is that the agricultural yield growth has somewhat improved, although not to the level of expectation. In the case of Nigeria, between 1980 and 2000, the nation’s GDP with respect to agricultural produce rose from 1.3 to 5.2 (CBN, 2000). This implied that the country was theoretically moving towards a state of food sufficiency. However, the facts on ground believe this presumption.

Today, 40 years and more after Independence, Nigeria is currently rated among the 20 poorest nations of the world. This is ironical considering the enormous material and human endowments of the nation which include vast agricultural lands coupled with all year round relatively good weather, huge oil, gas and mineral resources and large, talented and versatile population at about 120 million.

Thus, all things being equal, Nigeria should have no business being poor. But the global indices for measuring or assessing poverty include, among others, the status of malnutrition, which borders on food availability and food self-sufficiency. (Other indices are the rate of literacy, life expectancy, infant mortality, maternal morbidity and mortality. Even the incidence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS is closely related to the general poverty situation prevalent in the society).

Global surveys show that nearly one billion people mostly in developing countries are chronically undernourished, lacking in sufficient food to lead a healthy active life. The seriousness of this grave world food situation was reaffirmed in 1996 at the World Food Summit, which recognized the right of all peoples to be free from hunger, emphasizing that human welfare, including his well-being, should be at the center of all socio-economic development endeavours of nations of the world.

Thus, the question now is, why do we have a high incidence of malnutrition? Is it that we are not producing enough food or the right type of food, or, is it that food we produce is unaffordable? If we are producing enough and the right type of food and the food is not unaffordable, then what happens to the excess? The answer is simply that it is wasted. If we can control such wastes, food might become more available and possibly more affordable.