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Reducing Food Loss and Waste – Egypt

FAO works with farmers, traders and the general public to tackle the loss and waste of tens of billions of US Dollars’ worth of food across Egypt and the wider Africa and Near East (NENA) region.

Country Egypt

Duration 7m38s

Edit Version International

Video Type Video News Release (VNR)

Date 09/20/2018 3:16 PM

File size 893.60 MB

Unique ID UF2ESE

All editorial uses permitted

Production details and shotlist

UNFAO Source FAO Video

Shotlist SHOTLIST:

Bangar El Sokor, Nubaria, Beheira Governorate, Egypt - July 9, 2018

1. Grape farmers and laborers working on harvest

2. Grapes falling onto pile

3. Farmers packing grapes

4. Dry grapes on vine

Belbeis, Sharqia Governorate, Egypt - July 7, 2018

5. People loading tomatoes in wholesale market

6. Various of damaged tomatoes

7. Trader handing wooden crate of tomatoes to another trader

8. Traders sorting tomatoes from traditional wooden crate into rigid box

9. Tomatoes in rigid box

Cairo, Egypt - July 6, 2018

10. Tomatoes in baskets in market

11. Vendor sorting tomatoes

Bangar El Sokor, Nubaria, Beheira Governorate, Egypt - July 10, 2018

12. Farmers harvesting tomatoes in field

13. Farmers harvest tomatoes onto truck in distance

14. Boxes of tomatoes

15. Farmer carrying box of tomatoes on shoulder

16. Wide of tomato sun during facility

17. Various of worker laying out tomatoes to dry

18. Various of Samar Ibrahim, sun-dried tomato unit labour supervisor, scattering salt

19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samar Ibrahim, sun-dried tomato unit labour supervisor, saying:

“Many workers depend completely on the income they get from this job. Single women can now prepare for their weddings, married women can help their husbands, young men can build their futures”

20. Worked laying out tomatoes

21. Various of Bahaa Ismail, technical expert for FAO Egypt, training group of women

22. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bahaa Ismail, technical expert for FAO Egypt, saying:

“One main benefit of the sun-dried tomato project is that it reduces tomato losses. If there is over production, we can dry the surplus. Another benefit is that it creates job op-portunities, particularly for women, as this job is more popular among women”

23. Ismail training women

24. Various of tomatoes drying on tables

25. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samar Ibrahim, sun-dried tomato unit labour supervisor, saying:

“The women learned things that will be useful. They can now dry tomatoes at home, and store them to make sauces.”

26. Worker passing box of tomatoes to Ismail

27. Ismail talking to men

Cairo, Egypt - July 5, 2018

28. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Taha, sun-dried tomato exporter, saying:

“Awareness means telling a farmer what to do with his tomatoes. If he dries them, he can sell them to sauce-making factories. If the product is good quality, we can open export markets for him, especially in winter. This way, we can reduce losses in tomatoes and other agricultural products.”

Bangar El Sokor, Nubaria, Beheira Governorate, Egypt - July 9, 2018

29. Various of Yehia Salah, technical expert for FAO Egypt, training grape farmer Mabrook Khamees and other farmer to recognize disease in roots of grape vine

30. Salah, Khamees and another farmer stood beside grape vine

31. Khamees squeezing grape juice onto instrument used to measure sugar content

32. Khamees looking into instrument

Bangar El Sokor, Nubaria, Beheira Governorate, Egypt - July 10, 2018

33. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mabrook Khamees, grape farmer, saying:

“Through the project, I learned, for example, that the ideal sugar content when grapes are ready for harvest is 20%.”

34. Grapes on vine

35. Khamees pruning grapes from bunch

36. Khamees walking with box of grapes

37. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mabrook Khamees, grape farmer, saying:

“Another thing I learned is how to pick grapes properly, how to get the right size by selecting medium-sized grapes that are not too small.”

38. Various of workers loading and moving crates of grapes

39. Khamees carrying box

40. Worker loading crate onto truck, covering grapes

41. Truck driving away

Bangar El Sokor, Nubaria, Beheira Governorate, Egypt - July 9, 2018

42. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yehia Salah, technical expert for FAO Egypt, saying:

“The project greatly helped small-scale farmers reduce post-harvest losses, as they are now aware of the proper technical practices to manage the harvest to reduce the risk of disease.”

Bangar El Sokor, Nubaria, Beheira Governorate, Egypt - July 10, 2018

43. Grapes lined up

Cairo, Egypt - July 6, 2018

44. Raisins

45. Chefs working in restaurant

46. Flames rising from hotplate (Note: shot is in slow motion)

47. Various of food left on plates at end of meal

48. Various of workers stacking and carrying plates containing left-over food

49. People walking in market

50. Various of women shopping for tomatoes

(Mute) Various locations, Egypt - Various dates, July 2018

51. Portrait of Samar Ibrahim, sun-dried tomato unit labour supervisor

52. Portrait of farm worker

53. Portrait of grape farmer

54. Portrait of Grape farmer Mabrook Khamees

Ends

Script STORY: In the Near East and North Africa, an estimated 250 kg of food is lost or wasted per person each year. That’s worth USD 60 billion annually.

In Egypt, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is working with farmers, traders and the wider public to tackle loss and waste all along the value chain, from the farm to the household.

Food that gets spilled or spoilt before it reaches its final product or retail stage is called food loss, while food that is fit for human consumption, but is not consumed because it is or left to spoil or discarded by retailers or consumers is called food waste.

Food loss during farming and distribution is a big problem in Egypt. 25-35% percent of grapes are lost before they reach the consumer, while 50 percent of tomatoes are lost through inefficient practices.

Traditional wooden crates widely used across the country bend easily under pressure and damage produce. So FAO is encouraging traders to use rigid, ventilated boxed that will protect vegetables and fruit.

Low product prices are a leading contributor to food loss: when prices are too low, farmers actually lose money when they harvest, so sometimes they are better off leaving their crops to rot in the field.

To prevent this, FAO has partnered with cooperatives to start sun drying facilities.

Sun-dried tomatoes can be stored and sold when product prices are higher, so fewer are wasted, and farmers have a new product with higher value.

“Many workers depend completely on the income they get from this job. Single women can now prepare for their weddings, married women can help their husbands, young men can build their futures” said Samar Ibrahim, a labour supervisor in the new sun-drying unit in the community of Bangar El Sokor.

Women make up over 90 percent of employees.

Workers are trained to cut, salt and dry tomatoes to meet international standards.

“One main benefit of the sun-dried tomato project is that it reduces tomato losses. If there is over production, we can dry the surplus. Another benefit is that it creates job op-portunities, particularly for women, as this job is more popular among women,” said Ba-haa Ismail, a technical expert for FAO Egypt in charge of training at the unit.

Ibrahim stressed that the skills that her fellow workers learn at the unit can be trans-ferred to their own farms and households.

“The women learned things that will be useful. They can now dry tomatoes at home, and store them to make sauces,” she said.

Private sector buyers like exporter Mahmoud Taha have already placed the first orders for sun-dried tomatoes, which are consumed as a high-end product in The West.

“Awareness means telling a farmer what to do with his tomatoes. If he dries them, he can sell them to sauce-making factories. If the product is good quality, we can open ex-port markets for him, especially in winter. This way, we can reduce losses in tomatoes and other agricultural products,” Atah said.

FAO is also training grape farmers how to recognize and treat disease, as well as measure grape sugar content in order to harvest at the best time and avoid unnecessary loss.

“Through the project, I learned, for example, that the ideal sugar content when grapes are ready for harvest is 20%,” said grape farmer Mabrook Khamees.

“Another thing I learned is how to pick grapes properly, how to get the right size by se-lecting medium-sized grapes that are not too small,” he added.

During the harvest, farmers and laborers are trained in how best to cut and handle grapes, and how to pack them to avoid further losses during distribution.

“The project greatly helped small-scale farmers reduce post-harvest losses, as they are now aware of the proper technical practices to manage the harvest to reduce the risk of disease,” Yehia Salah, a technical expert for FAO Egypt, explained.

Grape farmers like Khamees also suffer from the effects of low market prices - in past years he has made a loss, and questioned whether to harvest at all.

The next phase of the grape loss reduction program is a raisin drying facility, that - like the tomato sun drying facility - will allow grapes to be dried and stored when prices are low.

Egypt is in the top 5 grapes producers but a net importer of raisins.

The country is one of the biggest food wasters in the world. The average Egyptian throws away 50kg of food each year, and more during festivals and holidays.

FAO has launched a public campaign - including popular promotional videos circu-lated on social media - to increase awareness of needless food waste.

FAO collaborates with the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt in the training programme, supported by Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

With over 2,000 Egyptian beneficiaries trained so far, FAO is working for a future where food is neither lost or wasted, as part of its goal to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030.

Ends