Page 11 - Luciana Delgado Otero

Chapter 1

and waste are far from guaranteed, and the impacts will differ according to where
food loss is reduced (FAO, 2019; Cattaneo et al., 2020).
However, when looking close into the food loss and waste problem important
challenges are found. First, most of the literature refers to the terms ‘Post-
Harvest Losses’ (PHL), ‘Food Loss’ (FL), ‘Food Waste’ (FW), and ‘Food Loss and
Waste’ (FLW) interchangeably, but they hardly ever refer consistently to the same
concept. For some authors, the distinction is linked to the stages at which losses

occur. For others, the distinction is based on the cause of the food loss and
whether it was intentional. Recent publications (FAO, 2014; HLPE, 2014; Lipinski
et al., 2013. and FAO, 2019) have tried to clarify this by defining FL as
unintentional reductions in food quantity or quality before consumption. These
losses usually occur in the earlier stages of the food value chain, between
production and distribution, but they also occur during the wholesale and retail
stages. PHL is an element of FL and excludes losses at the production level,
although losses during harvest are sometimes misleadingly included in the
concept (e.g., Affognon, 2014; APHLIS, 2014). The FLW concept encompasses the
totality of losses and waste along the value chain with respect to total harvested
production (FAO, 2014). However, this definition does not include crops lost
before harvest because of pests and diseases or crops left in the field, crops lost
due to poor harvesting techniques or sharp price drops, or food that was not
produced because of a lack of adequate agricultural inputs, including labor
availability and fertilizer. SDG 12.3.1 refers to losses from on-farm post-harvest
up to processing and packaging, including wholesale.

With the objective of resolving this challenge and of having a clear, consistent
definition targeting producers, in this dissertation, we will focus only on food
losses, and we will follow the definition of SDG 12.3.1. i.e., looking at food losses
across the value chain from o- farm up to wholesale market included.

Policies to reverse this situation have mainly aimed at increasing agricultural
yields and productivity, but these efforts are often cost- and time-intensive. In
addition, the loss of marketable food can reduce producers’ income and increase
consumers’ expenses, likely having larger impacts on disadvantaged segments of
the population. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on food losses as a way to

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