Agriculture Ministry launches ‘No food waste initiative’

AMMAN — The Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday launched the "No food waste initiative", meant to develop clear frameworks to minimise food waste.

Minister of Agriculture Khalid Hneifat at the launch ceremony highlighted the importance of the initiative that came while the world, including Jordan, experiences food-security related challenges driven by population growth caused by successive waves of refugees, high food prices, water scarcity, the impacts of the COVID-19  pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war. The ceremony was also attended by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative for Jordan Nabil Assaf and World Food Programme (WFP) representatives, according to a ministry statement. 

He also highlighted the role of suboptimal food system practices from production to consumption that are caused by producers, retailers, and consumers' poor knowledge and lack of awareness, as well as inadequate facilities and infrastructure, among other factors.

Highlighting food loss along the food supply chain, the minister said that globally, an estimated 14 per cent of the food produced is lost or wasted in the post-harvest phase before reaching the retail stage.

In Jordan, on a per capita basis, an individual wastes 93kg of food each year, while on a global per capita level, 121 kilogrammes of food is wasted per year at the consumer level, he said.

He added that a total of 935,000 tonnes of food are wasted each year in the Kingdom, noting that agricultural production waste could reach 41 per cent in produce, and 34 per cent in grain products.

As a water poor country, food loss and waste in Jordan have a profound impact on water, as wasted water reaches 25 million cubic metres per year, the minister said.

Expressing the ministry's keenness to enhance cooperation with partners, he said the roadmap adopted by the Ministry, FAO and the WFP will be launched this month. The roadmap includes studies on food loss and along the value chain, as well as the implementation of awareness campaigns and workshops to minimise waste and loss.

Assaf said that according to FAO estimates, the food that is lost and wasted could feed 1.26 billion hungry people every year, adding that food loss and waste also account for 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions,  contributing to an unstable climate and extreme weather events such as droughts and flooding.