Study on food loss in Morocco

Location

Online

ESCWA, in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, is organizing a national meeting to disseminate the findings of a study on food loss in the Kingdom of Morocco. The study offers insight into the causes of food loss along the wheat and dates supply chains. In addition to the main study, a brief directional roadmap was developed to assist the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture in developing an action plan for food loss prevention.

Attendees include national and international stakeholders who can positively impact food security and agricultural production in Morocco.

Outcome document

Meeting outcome

Morocco is experiencing food loss at different levels: wheat loss takes place mainly during storage at farm level, whereas loss in dates happens during cultivation and harvesting – due to insects, bird attacks and poor harvesting practices.
To reduce food loss in the date and soft wheat sectors, it is fundamental to initiate direct contact with farmers who harvest and manage storage warehouses. This can be done through a well-trained team of extension workers who can highlight the reasons for the losses and disseminate good practices to minimize them.
To reduce loss in soft wheat, awareness-raising and capacity building initiatives are needed to inform farmers about proper storing, such as requirements and standards for suitable storage construction, insulation techniques, cleaning and disinfecting methods, packaging material and ventilation requirements. For dates, the focus should be on disseminating proper harvesting techniques for the different varieties of dates, and protection from attacks by birds, moths and insects.
Further potential to reduce loss would be reuse, recycling into processed food or non-food items, compost and energy production.

Discussion

Opening Session

During the opening session, ESCWA representatives welcomed all participants,introduced the agenda for the meeting, and gave a presentation on the importance of limiting food loss in the Kingdom of Morocco. The presentation explained the objectives of the undertake study. Representative from the National Institute of Agronomic Research (NIAR) gave some welcoming remarks and highlighted the importance of this study and presented some facts and figures on the food loss and waste status in the Arab region and in the Kingdom specifically.

Session 1: Presentation of the Study Findings

The first session of the meeting presented an overview of the findings of the study on food loss in the kingdom; it shed light on the extent of food loss along the wheat and dates supply chains, the main causes behind it and opportunities do reduce it. The researchers presented the methodology of the study; including the geographical location of the study, the actors involved, data collection methods and the samples used. The preliminary results of this study were also disseminated, and some recommendations were proposed to reduce the food loss along the supply chains of both wheat and dates. This presentation was followed by Q&A.

Session 2: Presentation of the Directional Roadmap

During the second session of this meeting, a Roadmap to Reduce Soft Wheat and Date Losses in the Kingdom of Morocco was presented. The objective of this roadmap is to facilitate the development of an action plan to reduce food losses of soft wheat and dates. The roadmap revolves around 7 strategic axes related to developing national strategies to reduce food loss, collecting data on the subject matter, raising awareness and disseminating good practices, securing financial support, encouraging entrepreneurial startups in this domain, accelerating the transition to a circular economy and encouraging cooperation at local, regional and international levels. This presentation was followed by Q&A and closing remarks.

Participant list

List of Participants