SA’s bountiful food supply needn’t go to waste

On average, more than 10.3-million tonnes of edible food is wasted each year in SA. This occurs at a cost of about R61.5bn annually, or 2.1% of SA’s GDP and enough to feed 22,200 children every day for a year. In a country where two out of 10 children under the age of five are stunted and malnourished, wasting almost half (45%) of the total available food supply is nothing short of a tragedy.

Although food waste occurs at all stages of the food supply chain, a study by the CSIR found that 34.3% of the total food waste in SA occurs at the primary production stage. While this statistic is gloomy at face value, the underlying opportunity for change, especially in the local agricultural sector, is definitely something to smile about. It is therefore not surprising that researchers are shifting their focus to farmers, to try to identify potential evidence-based behavioural solutions for food waste and loss.

A recent study by The Behaviour Change Agency (BCA), commissioned by WWF SA and funded by the WWF Nedbank Green Trust, sought to gain an understanding of farmers’ awareness, attitudes and behaviours around food waste, and any food waste-management practices they might employ.

Fruit and vegetable farmers from across SA were interviewed telephonically and their responses were thematically analysed. Findings from these interviews will now form a foundation for developing and testing changes in behaviour.

Just 40% of farmers were able to give an estimate of food waste occurring on their farm, and only half of them measured and quantified food waste and loss. Providing farmers with the right tools and information to measure food wastage will contribute significantly to achieving a national baseline of food waste. Once this baseline has been established, the successes of future interventions can be measured accurately.

How does food waste occur on farms?

During the interviews with farmers it became apparent that environmental factors are one of the biggest contributors. Unfavourable weather conditions and destructive pests and diseases can damage entire crops at a time, leading to catastrophic wastage. Climate-change forecasts indicate increased pressure on the horticulture sector from pests, leading to significant potential damage to food waste and loss.

Besides environmental factors, behavioural issues such as poor decision-making during the pre-harvest process can also have devastating effects on crops and result in major food losses. Water management, planting practices, harvest planning and crop monitoring are all susceptible to poor decision-making. However, an often-overlooked contributing factor to food waste on farms is chemical mismanagement; incorrect use of pesticides can ruin entire crops. 

Other behavioural factors are employer-employee relationships on working farms. One vegetable farmer from KwaZulu-Natal believes the relationship between employer and employee is directly related to the output received from staff. This farmer is clear on the important role staff plays in limiting food loss and waste: “If you just dish out orders to staff without explaining the reasoning behind it, they will not be on board with your food waste goals,” the farmer said

Pandemic blues

The Covid-19 pandemic also brought new impetus to food losses through its impact on market-related factors. More specifically, oversupply due to closed borders, stricter import policies, bottlenecks at ports and exorbitant increases in input costs, make it almost unviable for farmers to harvest, pack and transport their crops to market.

During the peak of the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown in SA a pomegranate farmer from the Western Cape had just harvested an entire crop of A-grade export fruit, destined for the high-paying market of Europe. But with national and international borders closed, he had to make another plan with his harvest, which was deteriorating in quality by the hour. He made numerous calls in a bid to redistribute and sell it on the local market, but when these attempts failed, he resorted to donating the fruit.

This was not without its challenges either; donating R1m worth of fruit isn’t a straightforward matter. A receiver needs to be identified to ensure the donation ends up on the plates of those in need, and the logistics arrangements for transporting such a large quantity is a major task. Neither of these conditions could be met, even after the farmer contacted numerous municipalities and charity organisations. So, what did he do? He drove containers of fruit into his local community and invited everyone to take whatever they needed.

Consumer preferences also drive demand, and this is often influenced by aspects such as the weather, trends and yes, even pandemics, as a mushroom farmer discovered during the lockdown: “Someone would rather spend their money on food perceived as nutritious and immune boosting, like citrus, than on luxuries like mushrooms.”

Social media users recently reacted with severe distaste to a video showing tonnes of citrus being dumped in the Eastern Cape as a result of strict and somewhat irrational import restrictions on SA citrus to Europe and a subsequently saturated local market. Although the import restrictions have been lifted for now, the citrus industry will feel the effects for the foreseeable future and the environment and natural resources used to produce this produce will take even longer to recover.

“We held crates back in the cold rooms, hoping for the price to climb again, but by the time the fruit had to move the price was even lower, so dumping it was cheaper than selling it,” a citrus farmer from Limpopo said.

SA farmers also face challenges such as disruption in cold chains due to load-shedding and damage to trucks and rerouting delays due to riots and unrest.

Hidden costs

Despite some of the causes of food waste on farms being beyond control, farmers are still trying their best to employ preventive strategies. However, these often come at a cost. Side-stepping weather conditions with the use of greenhouses and protective netting might seem an easy solution, but the average cost per hectare is similar to that of purchasing the land being farmed. It therefore remains out of reach for most farmers, especially considering the slim profit margins in farming.

Switching to green energy to reduce dependence on Eskom is also an option, but again the initial set-up costs isn’t affordable for most farmers.

Repurposing or processing produce can reduce waste, but practices such as juicing, pulping, freezing or drying of fruit and vegetables come at a cost too; the farmer either has to invest in a repurposing facility on the farm or the produce must be transported and subcontracted to a processing factory.

Opportunity beckons

Despite these cost barriers research suggests that adhering to good farming practices and ensuring the health of crops is the best way to prevent losses. Luckily, such practices are simple to implement and include intense planning of planting and harvesting times, correct use of fertilisers and pesticides, pruning practices and water management.

If farmers are aware of and motivated to address food losses and if addressing such losses is simply a case of good farming practices, you might ask why we are still seeing significant food waste in primary production. The answer is simple: we need to do more. Or, we need to do something different.

An opportunity exists in the local farming community: SA farmers are aware of food waste, and they know the causes and work hard to prevent it. But findings from the interviews revealed that just four in 10 farmers are able to estimate food waste. That means many of them might be unaware of the extent of the problem on their farms.

In addition, while some of the behavioural solutions may be simple, they are not easy to achieve on a national scale due to the heterogeneity of the farming industry. Also, farmers are generally not aware of the environmental costs of food loss or waste; that is, all the natural resources such as water, energy and soil nutrients that go into food production. 

An interesting finding from the research is that SA farmers see food waste and loss as an opportunity, not a threat. Indeed, all respondents in the study said they are motivated and eager to address food waste on their farms, with that motivation stemming from both a financial and moral drive towards increasing food security. That means they are not discouraged by the challenges posed by implementing food waste-management strategies.

This finding points to the sheer and drive of SA farmers and makes them the ideal candidates for testing behavioural interventions aimed at reducing food waste in primary production. The diversity within the local agricultural sector, not only of the farmers themselves, but also the crop types, farm sizes and geographical heterogeneity, enables any potential findings to be translational.

• Pillay and Engel are with WWF SA, and Govender, Engelbrecht and Fourie with the Behaviour Change Agency.