Indonesian Annual Food Waste Losses Reportedly Reach Rp551 Trillion
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5 September 2022 17:57 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) reported in 2021 that Indonesia's food loss or food waste for the past two decades amounted to 115 to 184 kilograms per capita annually.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) together with the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) has examined the causes of this problem in the Workshop on the Study of Food Loss and Waste, in Jakarta on Saturday, September 3, 2022.
What is classified as food waste is food leftovers from production to wholesalers, retailers, and households. The highest amount of losses was found in plants, especially cereals. Meanwhile, the most inefficient food sector, mainly due to food chain waste, is fruit and vegetables. Even in the Asia-Pacific region, nearly half of fruit and vegetables are wasted or lost before reaching consumers.
"Fruits and vegetables are the most nutritious commodities that are lost and wasted," said Secretary of the Directorate General of Horticulture of the Ministry of Agriculture Retno Sri Hartati Mulyandari on Sunday, September 4, 2022.
Economic losses due to food loss and waste range from IDR 213 trillion to IDR 551 trillion annually, equivalent to 4-5 percent of Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Mulyandari asserted the importance to understand the barriers and challenges in the value chain to reduce food loss. This food waste problem is caused by various managerial and technical limitations in harvesting, storage, transportation, processing, refrigeration facilities, infrastructure, packaging, and marketing systems.
Both FAO and the Agriculture Ministry plan to commence a study from September this year to January 2023 that will focus on three chosen commodities such as chilly pepper in Banyuwangi, East Java; red garlic in Brebes, Central Java; and cabbage in Cianjur, West Java. The main goal of the study is to better understand the shrinking point of food commodities and find solutions for food loss and food waste.
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