Logistics Capacity Development: Post-Harvest Food Loss Reduction in Uganda through improved Storage and Handling at the start of the Supply Chain

This operation expired on 16 May 2016.

Post-harvest food loss1 is one of the largest contributing factors to food insecurity and under-nutrition. It occurs all over the world, but much of it takes place in Sub-Saharan Africa, directly impacting the lives of millions of poor, smallholder farming families every year. Although African agriculture holds great potential, it is not functioning at optimal efficiency. Due predominantly to inadequate handling and storage practices at the household level, farmers lose more than 30 percent of their crops every year to insects, pests, mold and moisture. The inability to safely store grain at the household level has huge nutritional, health, and financial impacts. These losses significantly lower the quality and volume of food available for consumption and sale, thus contributing to hunger and malnutrition, and reducing household income. 

Through this SO, WFP will build upon the incredible accomplishments of SO 200671, where almost 17,000 Ugandan smallholder farming families have enjoyed remarkable quantitative and qualitative gains, as well as significant increases in household finance, as result of the training, new storage and handling equipment, and farm support provided in 2014/2015. Commencing in May 2015, SO 200836 will expand the postharvest loss reduction activities in the same region to include an additional 34,000 to 40,000 smallholder farmers, with the intention of taking the same proven model of post-harvest handling and storage training and subsidized storage equipment to the broader sub-Saharan region over the coming years. These objectives directly support WFP’s commitment to two of the five key objectives of the United Nations Secretary General’s Zero Hunger Challenge, namely (i) 100% increase in smallholder productivity and income and (ii) zero loss or waste of food.