Empirical approaches to assess impacts of food loss and waste on food systems productivity and sustainability

Lerato Phali, Mancoba Mndzebele, Pamela Madududu and Prisca Atieno

Chapter 29 in Handbook on Public Policy and Food Security, 2024, pp 299-310 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Food loss and waste threaten food system sustainability and productivity through climate change, land degradation and eutrophication. This chapter reviews methods to measure the impact of food loss and waste on food system productivity and sustainability to shape stakeholder policies, programs and businesses towards sustainable production and consumption. The findings are that life cycle assessment (LCA) quantifies the environmental effects of FLW and can guide the selection of environmentally friendly food system processes and techniques. A modular applied general equilibrium modelling tool employs a system-wide bio-economic simulation to assess the impact of household food waste. On the other hand, distance to target approach, nutritional food loss footprint, nutritional cost footprint, material flow analysis, aggregate self-reported method, waste composition analysis and food waste diaries quantify food loss and waste along food supply chains. Quantifying FLW and its impacts is critical for targeting policy formulation and implementation to address the problem.

Keywords: Development Studies; Economics and Finance; Environment; Geography; Politics and Public Policy Sociology and Social Policy; Sustainable Development Goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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