Fight Food Loss. Feed Families.
There's enough food to feed all of us. The problem is nearly 30% of it is lost or wasted.
In high-income countries, most food is wasted after it’s purchased, in restaurants, homes and hotels. But in low-income countries, where the vast majority of the world’s hungriest people live, most food loss occurs during growth, harvest and storage. That’s where the UN World Food Programme (WFP) comes in.
We have the solutions, but we need your help to bring them to scale.
worth of edible food is lost or wasted every year
is the average amount of food Americans waste each month
of all the food African farmers grow is lost to pests and mold
6 Food Waste facts
Fact One
One-third of the world’s food is lost or wasted each year. Reversing this trend would preserve enough food to feed 2 billion people . That’s more than twice the number of undernourished people across the globe.
Source: 8 Facts to Know About Food Waste and Hunger Photo: Unsplash/Elevate
Fact Two
Consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa each year. At the same time, the value of post-harvest food loss in Sub-Saharan Africa is more than what the region receives in food assistance.
Source: 8 Facts to Know About Food Waste and Hunger Photo: Unsplash/Scott Warman
Fact Three
If wasted food were a country, it would be the third largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world, after the U.S. and China.
Source: 8 Facts to Know About Food Waste and Hunger Photo: Unsplash/Veeterzy
Fact Four
Cutting global food waste in half by 2030 is one of the U.N.’s top priorities. In fact, it’s one of the organization’s 17 sustainable development goals.
Source: 8 Facts to Know About Food Waste and Hunger Photo: WFP/Jonathan Eng
Fact Five
WFP provides family farmers with air-tight storage containers that cut their food loss from 40% to 2%.
Source: 8 Facts to Know About Food Waste and Hunger Photo: WFP/Davinah Nabirye
Fact Six
WFP tackles food waste by boosting farmers' access to local markets. By sourcing food locally, we provide a market for farmers' surplus produce so it's not left to rot.
Source: 8 Facts to Know About Food Waste and Hunger Photo: WFP/Will Baxter
Help Us Fight Food Loss
Food Storage
Around the world, subsistence farmers can lose nearly half of their harvest simply because they don’t have access to modern storage equipment. WFP is changing that with silos and air-tight bags.
Nonperishables
The typical WFP food ration includes long-lasting staples like flour, dried beans, salt and cooking oil – all packaged in sturdy containers. This ensures the items won’t spoil for weeks or months, so nothing gets thrown away.
Innovation
Hydroponics, hermetic containers, recovery supply chains and virtual farmers markets. These are just a few of the innovations that allow communities to grow, sell and store food in impossible places.
Policy
The U.S. Farm Bill authorizes several critical programs that take American-grown crops like rice, corn, wheat and soy beans and distribute them to vulnerable people in need. It’s just one of the many policies we work on to end hunger.
Hacking Hunger – Episode 20: The Forgotten Food Waste Crisis
WFP’s resident food waste expert shares how “tupperware for crops” could change the way the world’s small-scale farmers do business.
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