AT the workshop (Source: VNA)
Can Tho (VNA) – Experts gathered at a
workshop in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on August 19 to seek ways to reduce
food losses and waste, and ensure a sustainable APEC food system.
The event formed part of activities during the
APEC 2017 Food Security Week and the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Enhancing
Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Response to Climate Change in the
city.
Participants focused on how to evaluate food losses and waste reduction, sharing experience and solutions of the private sector in
reducing food waste, reviewing APEC’s projects on reducing food losses and waste,
and how to enhancing the awareness toward sustainable development.
According to the UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO), nearly 800 million people are undernourished globally, of
them 500 million are in the Asia – Pacific region.
Around 1.3 billion tonnes of food or one third
of the global food output, worth nearly 750 billion USD, are lost and wasted
each year. The amount, if saved, is enough to feed two billion people.
Food is mainly lost during post-production and harvest,
transport and preservation in developing nations due to poor infrastructure
while food losses take place in marketing and consumption in developed nations.
Food loss and waste reduction was noted in the
APEC declarations on food security in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 to ensure
sustainable agriculture development and food security for APEC economies.
One of the objectives of the APEC food security
roadmap to 2020 is to cut down food losses and waste by 10 percent from 2011 –
2012.
Gong Xifeng, head of the APEC Agricultural
Technical Cooperation Working Group, called for a combination of public and
private resources in APEC economies to reduce food losses and waste.
Meanwhile, Tran Kim Long, Director of the
International Cooperation Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development, underlined a need for incentives to
encourage investment and technology application in agricultural production, and
the active participation of the private sector and consumers.
Ha Thanh Toan, Rector of the Can Tho University
said the university is willing to cooperate with international partners in
establishing a centre for studying and promoting technology application in
reducing post-harvest losses, contributing to realising the APEC food security
goals.-VNA