Estimates of Food Losses and Wastes at Each Node of the Wheat Value Chain in Morocco: Implications on Food and Energy Security, Natural Resources, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

El Houssine Bartali, Mohamed Boutfirass, Yigezu Atnafe Yigezu (), Abdoul Aziz Niane, Mohamed Boughlala, Mohammed Belmakki and Habib Halila
Additional contact information
El Houssine Bartali: Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences, Rabat P.O. Box 6202, Morocco
Mohamed Boutfirass: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Settat P.O. Box 589, Morocco
Yigezu Atnafe Yigezu: International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Area (ICARDA), Cairo P.O. Box 11742, Egypt
Abdoul Aziz Niane: International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Area (ICARDA), Cairo P.O. Box 11742, Egypt
Mohamed Boughlala: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Settat P.O. Box 589, Morocco
Mohammed Belmakki: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Settat P.O. Box 589, Morocco
Habib Halila: International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Area (ICARDA), Cairo P.O. Box 11742, Egypt

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-26

Abstract: Several research and development efforts have been made to ensure food security in developing countries. Dissemination of improved agricultural technologies was used as the main avenue through which some increases in food supply have been achieved. However, food insecurity remains a major challenge. This paper argues and provides empirical evidence that reducing food loss and waste can be an effective food and energy security, and natural resource, and environmental conservation strategy. Following the life cycle framework, the annual amount of wheat-based food lost or wasted from farm-to-fork in Morocco was estimated at 4 million tons (equivalent to 36% of total supply) valued at US$1.0 billion. Among all nodes, the magnitudes of farm management-related losses, wastage during consumption, and storage losses rank first to third accounting for about 17.4%, 7.92%, and 7.06%, respectively of total wheat supply in the country. Were these losses and wastes entirely prevented, Morocco would have been able to feed 29.3 million more people, or save 1.79 million hectares of land, 2.66 billion m3 of water, and 64.28 million GJ of energy, and prevented the emission from landfills of at least 16.61 million kg of methane annually. Besides the ongoing efforts to disseminate agricultural technologies, the Moroccan government needs to develop short- and medium-term national strategies to reduce food losses and wastage particularly targeting the storage and consumption nodes. Replacing bread subsidy with food vouchers targeting only the needy and creation of public awareness about the magnitudes and consequences of food loss and wastage alone may go long way in reducing them.

Keywords: food loss and waste; pre- and post-harvest; value chain; natural resource and energy; wheat; Morocco (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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