IntelliDigest launched the Global Food Loss and Waste tracker on June 18 during the London Circular Economy Week in the UK with an awareness campaign for African region  held at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra state, Nigeria on July 29th as the UN Food Summits kicks off in Rome, Italy and the world marks Earth Overshoot day.

The conference had in attendance, the Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Professor Charles Esimone, represented by the Director, Directorate of International Cooperation & Linkages (DICL), Professor Ifeoma Enweani; Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Professor Nkeiru Meludu;  CEO, IntelliDigest Ltd, Dr. Ifeyinwa Kanu, representatives of government agencies, key Agricultural players, Community leaders, Market leaders and Students.

The Global Food Loss and Waste Tracker will support the global effort by United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (UNFAO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in measuring, reporting and managing food loss and waste so that we can achieve SDG 2 – Zero Hunger, SGD 12 – Responsible Consumption & Production, and SDG 13 – Climate Action targets by 2030. 

“We are pleased to be  collaborating with African Universities starting with Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra state, Nigeria with support from Science Technology Facility Centre Food Network in the UK to enable young graduates develop biotech and deeptech skill that will boost Agrifood innovation, building on data insight from the Global Food Loss and Waste tracker.”, 

“With these data, we can track food waste at every stage in the food system from farm to fork, avoiding edible food waste and managing inedible food waste more efficiently.. Additionally, it helps users to understand the monetary value and the avoidable potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of edible and inedible food waste. The Global Food Loss and Waste Tracker app will also enable users to share surplus food, purchase locally produced nutrient dense food and improve their health.” Dr Ifeyinwa Kanu, Chief Executive Officer, intelliDigest Ltd

Nnamdi Azikiwe University is pleased to collaborate with IntelliDigest on the Global Food Loss and  Waste Tracker. This is in line with the actualization of the vision of  Project 200 of the Vice Chancellor Prof  Charles O. Esimone. Reducing Food Waste along the Agricultural Value Chain will Enhance Sustainable Food Security. Prof Nkiru Theresa Meludu: Dean Faculty of Agriculture, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. 

The essence of the collaboration is to gather information on waste reduction, especially now there is scarcity of food. This will help to enhance technology innovation from the University that solve societal issues as farmers will be provided with tools and online access to reach consumers on the availability of their goods before they perish. Prof Solomon Chuka Nwigbo, the Director Technology Incubation Center of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

“The STFC Food Network+ (SFN) brings together STFC researchers and facilities with research and industry in the agri-food sector in order to help the STFC community to make a meaningful contribution to the food system. We are pleased that the support provided to IntelliDigest through the SFN Scoping Project has led to the development of the Global Food Loss and Waste Tracker. Measuring and monitoring food loss and waste is crucial to understanding the sources and points of occurrence of the waste across the food system so that innovative technologies can be developed to mitigate such waste. We look forward to the great insight the data from the Global Food Waste Tracker will provide in tackling food system challenges holistically.” Dr. Sonal Choudhary – PI, STFC Food Network+ 2.0 (UK, Asia, Africa)

In Africa, the African Union has committed to reducing Post Harvest Loss by Half by 2025, from its level in 2000. This is part of the Malabo Targets of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The problem with this indicator is reliable data to track its progress. Therefore, UNFAO continues to support countries toward the reduction of food loss and waste (FLW) by providing technical support including capacity building to enhance key stakeholder’s understanding of the importance of addressing the FLW reduction challenges. The support provided is aimed at assisting countries to prioritize, plan, design and integrate food loss data collection efforts such as compiling the country Food Loss Index (FLI)  to compare percentage losses over time. In addition, FAO has developed a case study food loss analysis (FLA) methodology that looks at the causes and how to develop solutions to reduce food loss. Joseph Mpagalile – Agricultural Engineer (Sustainable Mechanisation), UNFAO.

Mrs Ejim Kenechukwu from IntelliDigest Africa illustrated the use of the electronic scale to capture weight of food waste and record it on the Global Food Loss and Waste Tracker. She encouraged download of the app from Google Play store.

“Individuals and farmers were urged to embrace the technology and supervise the management of food consumption and production in their environment” – Comrade Odera Ezenwafor from intelliDigest Africa.

“With a global download of the Global Food Loss and Waste Tracker app since its launch, households and businesses have demonstrated their interest to measure, track and prevent food waste and we are very keen to support them through the distribution of 100 electronic electronic scale following the awareness campaign at Nnamdi Azikiwe University for the first 100 users of the app in Africa” –  Dr Ifeyinwa kanu, CEO, IntelliDigest Ltd

Why does it matter?

Globally, one third of the food grown for human consumption is wasted which is over 1.3 billion tonnes. In the UK alone it is estimated that 4.5 million tonnes of food (WRAP, 2020) is wasted a year from households excluding the inedible parts. For most regions, we have little or no available data. 

The potential economic loss from global food waste has been estimated to be over £800 billion with potential environmental impact of over 3.3 GTonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Infact, Agrifood production contributes to 26% of GHG emission and food produced but not consumed accounts for 8% of total GHG. 

However, it is more challenging that in the midst of so much food waste, over 800 million people are hungry, over 1.9 billion people are under-nourished, either diabetic, obese, etc. leading to 1 in 5 deaths linked to malnutrition. 

Hence, the time to act is now so that we can halve food waste by 2030 and sustainably feed over 9.5 billion people by 2050. 

Measuring and tracking food waste across the food system has become imperative as we can only change what we can measure.  The Global Food Loss and Waste Tracker will 

provide real time awareness on the environmental and economic impact of food loss and waste via effective measuring and monitoring to consciously take the right action to eliminate food waste, save money and save the environment.