Background
Approximately one-third of the food produced across the world are lost or wasted along food supply chains, causing negative impact on food availability and quality, smallholder livelihoods, and advert climate and environmental consequences. The around 1.3 billion tonnes of food loss every year would be sufficient to feed 1.6 billion people. It is even worse in developing countries where lack of proper storage facilities and less adequate knowledge about grain storage (eg, aflatoxin control). In Africa especially, small agricultural producers (farmers, fishers, meat and dairy producers) operating in traditional food supply chains are the principal suppliers of food but face high food loss under normal circumstances, due to lack of technologies, infrastructure and transport systems, and technical skills to cut losses that occur at post-harvest stages.
World Food Programme (WFP) underpins the inclusion of food security, resilience, and nutrition priorities for long-term support to food systems transformation at country level. WFP’s work on food systems and smallholder support, and its Post-harvest Loss Management (PHLM) Guidance, recognizes and acts on the critical function that PHL management plays in developing sustainable food systems to improve agricultural productivity and deliver food security and safety for all. WFP’s programmatic work on PHL is focusing primarily on reducing post harvest losses affecting smallholder farmers, while also aiming at leveraging its comparative advantages in food supply chains to address PHL at warehouse level, notably through its Smallholder Agricultural Market Support (SAMS) and local and regional food procurement.
China has successfully achieved food security and eradicated absolute poverty for its 1.4 billion people over the last few decades. It has emerged as a key supporter and provider of South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) to the Global South to pursue internationally agreed sustainable development goals, including in the areas of food security and agricultural and rural development. China has been actively engaged with UN agencies including WFP to identify and share its relevant and adaptable experience and solutions to enable sustainable development of food systems through SSTC.
In July 2021, WFP China, in collaboration with FAO, IFAD and the Centre of Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (CSAM), convened an online event on China’s Good Practice on Food Loss and Waste. In September 2021, the first International Conference on Food Loss and Waste, initiated by the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China, was held in Jinan, Shandong province. The Jinan Initiative of the International Conference on Food Loss and Waste1 was released. In November 2022, a Seminar on Post-Harvest Loss Management for National Food Security was co-organized by WFP and Henan University of Technology (HAUT). And in October 2023, an SSC Policy Dialogue on Post-Harvest Loss for Resilient Food Systems was held to discuss PHLM at various stages of food systems.
Rationale
China’s experience over the past few decades has demonstrated that effective management of post-harvest losses at various stages significantly contributes to national food security, as well as to the market access and livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Robust disciplines and guidelines for the reduction, monitoring, and evaluation of post-harvest losses have been established to enhance systematic action. Warehousing and storage facilities, standardized procedures, and a range of technologies spanning harvesting, storage, transportation, and processing are widely implemented throughout the food supply chain.
Objectives
The Seminar, offline this year, aims to provide a platform to link partners from China and other Global South countries to exchange views and insights on PHL management and food systems resilience, focusing on access to technology and green transition in the field of PHLM.
Through this South-South Cooperation policy dialogue, this Seminar is expected to,
• Enable Access to Technology to encourage substantial exchange and on-site discussions on potential collaboration on agricultural and PHLM mechanization via the grand event of Agricultural Mechanization Exhibition 2024.
• Facilitate Knowledge Sharing and Best Practices via identifying successful national and international approaches, highlighting challenges encountered, and sharing lessons learned.
• Spark Collaborative Initiatives to encourage the formation of partnerships, collaborations, and concrete project/program initiatives between government of the needed countries and their counterparts in China.
• Galvanize the Momentum of Global Food Systems Stocking Moment in 2023 to address PHLM gap in developing countries through effective policy, holistic approach and strategic engagement, to achieve zero hunger.
Event arrangement
1. Date of the Event
The Seminar will be scheduled on 24-30 October 2024. The Seminar will be in association with China International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition 2024 3 (the Exhibition) in Changsha.
Oversea delegates are expected to arrive on 24 or morning of 25 Oct, visit the Exhibition on 26 Oct, attend the Seminar on 27 Oct, followed by two-day technical visits on 28 and 29 Oct, and depart China on 30 Oct.
Chinese delegates are expected to arrive on 26 Oct, attend the Seminar on 27 Oct, and depart on 28 Oct.
2. Event Format
The Seminar will be offline. Delegates will have the opportunity to visit the Exhibition and engage stakeholders from both the public and private sectors. Technical study tours will be arranged to the local granary, smallholder service centres, agribusiness and smallholderfacing agricultural equipment manufacturers/suppliers in Changsha, Hunan Province.
3. Language
Chinese/ English/ French simultaneous interpretation will be provided.
4. Follow-up
Concrete initiatives about PLHM cooperation would be expected as outputs of the Seminar. The Seminar will feed the WFP-China South-South Cooperation Knowledge Sharing Platform and Cloud School courses. Relevant knowledge products including experts’ presentations and reference materials will be shared with participants after the event.
Targeted Audience
Representatives from government agencies, concerned academic and technical partners in China, WFP Headquarter, RBC, RBJ and RBD, Country Offices, country offices of Botswana, Burundi, Cambodia, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Laos, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Organization
The Seminar will be co-organized by WFP China COE, NAFRA, CAMDA and HAUT, supported by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) and WFP HQ.
Agenda
