Potential impacts on sub-Saharan Africa of reducing food loss and waste in the European Union : A focus on food prices and price transmission effects
This paper (PDF) by FAO and LEI investigates, by means of scenario analyses, how reductions in food loss and waste in the European Union (EU) could influence prices in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) – as a source and destination of traded agricultural and food products. Four 50 percent reduction scenarios are enacted, each focussing on a different type of food loss or waste, using the Modular Applied GeNeral Equilibrium Tool, in addition to a baseline “business as usual” scenario. The analysis provides insights on potential impacts in terms of medium- to long-term global and local price changes in SSA and the mechanisms behind them (changes in production, consumption and trade patterns). Results show that reducing food loss and waste in the EU can be beneficial in reducing food prices. Reductions in food waste in final consumption and food losses at the primary agricultural production stages have a much stronger price impact in SSA compared with food loss and waste reductions in the other segments of the EU food supply chain. On aggregate, the results suggest that, ceteris paribus, reducing food loss and waste in the EU does not benefit SSA. Overall, SSA experiences welfare losses, even though they are a fraction of the economy. This outcome is the result of different impacts on various actors in the SSA economy, including impacts on SSA food producers as sellers to EU losing out from increased competition from EU food producers; producers as buyers of intermediate agrifood inputs from the EU benefiting from lower prices and so lower costs; and consumers of food commodities from the EU benefiting from lower prices.
Within the F&BKP a related inventory study has been conducted on the relation between the reduction of food wastage and the improvement of food security. Please find the summary and the link to the full report “Reducing food wastage, improving food security?” here.