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Post-Harvest Losses of Agricultural Produce

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Zero Hunger

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

Definitions

Food losses and waste are the result of ineffective functioning of food systems. “Post-harvest losses” in the PHL system refer to the quantitative and qualitative loss of food in various post-harvest operations. “Food loss” is defined too as food available for human consumption, but not consumed. Limiting post-harvest losses (PHL) is a priority area of cooperation between FAO and world development banks.

Introduction

About 1/3 of the food produced in the world per year for human consumption is lost or wasted. Food losses and waste total approximately $680 billion in industrialized countries and around $310 billion in developing countries. The industrialized and developing countries are wasting approximately comparable amounts of food (670 and 630 million tons, respectively). Usually fruits and vegetables, as well as tubers and roots, have the highest level of losses compared to all food groups. Global quantitative food losses and wastes during the year are around 30% for...

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Abbreviations

ADB:

African Development Bank

AFCR:

African Food Crisis Response

LDC:

Less developed countries

PHL:

Post-harvest losses

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Production Technology and Commodities Science, Faculty of Agrobioengineering, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland

    Barbara Sawicka

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  1. Barbara Sawicka
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Correspondence to Barbara Sawicka .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. European School of Sustainability Science and Research, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, The University of Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Gökçin Özuyar

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Dept. of Agricultural Management, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Rasht, Guilan, Iran

    Mohammad Sadegh Allahyari

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Sawicka, B. (2020). Post-Harvest Losses of Agricultural Produce. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P.G., Wall, T. (eds) Zero Hunger. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95675-6_40

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