From farm to table: Reducing food wastage in Zimbabwe

Nokuthaba Brita Ncube, ncubenokuthababrita@gmail.com

SMALLHOLDER farmers often face the significant threat of post-harvest losses, which tend to have lasting effects on their livelihoods and well-being. Post-harvest losses are one of the biggest challenges farmers encounter in Zimbabwe, including food loss across the food supply chain from harvesting the crop until its consumption.

Entrepreneur and founder of The Basket Grocer, Tatenda Pemba, highlighted in a recent LinkedIn post that food wastage is a growing challenge in Zimbabwe, especially when produce moves from farms to consumers. She pointed out that perishables from horticulture, such as tomatoes, are particularly vulnerable due to their perishability.

“A recent report indicates that over 30 percent of harvested crops in Zimbabwe are wasted before reaching the consumer due to poor storage, transport inefficiencies, and market gluts,” she said.

She noted that these have a huge impact on farmers, citing that they invest heavily in seeds, labour, and fertiliser but often fail to recover costs when produce is discarded.

“This discourages further production and disrupts livelihoods,” she said.

She further highlighted that wasted food means less availability for processing or export, reducing revenue for farmers.

According to Pemba, there is a need to strengthen cold storage infrastructure as well as support value-addition industries for products like dried tomatoes as part of easing post-harvest losses. She also stressed the need for market linkages and policies to reduce overproduction and post-harvest losses.

“Investing in sustainable practices can reduce losses, empower farmers, and protect Zimbabwe’s food system.”

For Africa, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates post-harvest losses at about 37 percent of the total output.

At the country level, post-harvest losses, estimated at 20 to 30 percent in storage alone, can be as high as 40 percent when including field, transportation, handling, and processing losses. Globally, about 33,3 percent, an estimated 1,3 billion tonnes of food, is lost in post-harvest processes annually, according to the World Bank.

The Government is making significant strides in curbing post-harvest losses through the construction of state-of-the-art grain storage facilities, a development that is set to guarantee food security in the wake of climate change.

As part of supporting Government efforts to revamp the horticultural sector, in 2022 the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Zimbabwe established a cold chain storage facility in Woodville, Bulawayo, to assist local farmers in enhancing quality storage standards and reducing post-harvest losses.

The establishment of the cold room facility was funded by ADRA Zimbabwe in partnership with the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Co-operation (ANCP). The organisation also partnered with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development in sensitising the horticulture recovery and growth plan through the ENGAGE project, which ran from July 2021 to June 2024, targeting 50 000 smallholder farmers in Umguza, Murewa, and Mutoko districts.