There is a need for increased capacity building and investments in reducing about 40 per cent of food that is going to waste across the country, researchers have said.
According to Shaffy Niyoyita, the Crop Harvesting and Post-Harvest Handling Technologies Specialist at Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), the 2021 Food Waste Index Report shows that up to 40 per cent of the total food produced each year is lost or wasted in Rwanda.
“We found that this amount of food waste represents food that can be grown and harvested on 21 per cent of the total national arable land in the country,” he said.
The study shows that calculated food waste also contributes 16 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.
“The amount of such food waste also accounts for 12 per cent losses to Rwanda’s annual GDP. When we talk about food waste we mean food that was grown, harvested or processed but never consumed,” he noted.
He said that there are many factors causing food waste which include not storing some food such as vegetables and fruits in better conditions.
“It requires harvesting crops such as vegetables in favorable conditions and cold rooms,” he said.
He said that poor mindset of consumers also triggers increasing food waste in landfills.
“People buy or cook food in their homes they can’t eat up. This entire end up in landfills,” he said.
The Crop Harvesting and Post-Harvest Handling Technologies Specialist noted that based on these studies, there is no doubt that this is a severe threat to the country, while it is known that 19 percent of the population does not have enough to eat, experts say.
The experts say that addressing this challenge is essential to building a regenerative and resilient food system that helps to mitigate climate change, reverse nature loss, and deliver positive outcomes for both producers and consumers.
Two million tonnes of food is annually wasted in Kigali
Niyoyita said that in Kigali city, over 500 tonnes of waste are dumped in the landfill of which 80 per cent are food waste.
“We have realised that such food waste is contributing 8 percent to greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change,” he said.
The studies have revealed that every household in Kigali wastes 164 kg of food every year, while 2,075,405 tons of food is wasted at the household level per year.
“We are on different projects aimed to reduce food waste in the country. The first project is an awareness campaign to educate households on changing behaviors.
There is no need for buying from the market or cooking food you can’t eat up. We should also set up a committee that collects food from households to help the poor instead of wasting it,” he said.
Reducing food waste on Kigali’s markets
He said that a lot of food such as vegetables and fruits traded in Kigali markets are going to waste before they are sold as they sometimes lack clients due to lack of cold rooms.
“We plan to set up an e-commerce platform to connect vendors and buyers. This can reduce food waste that was being caused by lack of clients in different markets in Kigali city,” he said.
According to Niyoyita, the other project is to seek sustainable solutions by establishing cold rooms in different markets in partnership with private investors.
He urged vendors on markets to buy and retail food after assessing the market.
“They have to assess when clients are many so that they buy and retail quantities that can be exhausted. When they realise that the food commodities could decay, they can sell them at discounted prices instead of total loss,” he added.
“In addition, we have to turn any food waste into resources such as organic fertilizers, briquettes for cooking fuel instead of harming the environment,” he said.
Mérard Mpabwanamaguru, the Vice Mayor in charge of Urbanization and Infrastructure in the City of Kigali said that currently an established taskforce is conducting awareness on food waste reduction and management among boarding schools, hotels, food waste collectors and transporters, and vendors in the City of Kigali.
According to Mpabwanamaguru, the first step being taken by the City of Kigali is to educate vendors on taking good care of their products.
“The vendors should know the way the food commodities get damaged and what is required to preserve them in favorable conditions, the way to transport them and retail few that clients can buy,” he noted.
Bellange Uwizeye, the Executive Director of Rwanda Rural Rehabilitation Initiative-RWARRI that is partnering in reducing food waste there is also techniques of detecting food that is about to reach the stage of losing quality while in stores on the market.
“Different partners should join efforts to design different sustainable projects to reduce food waste including using modern technologies,” he said.
According to Janviere Niyongira, a vendor in Kigali City in Kicukiro District, cold rooms should be set up in different markets to subsidize the cost in reducing food waste.
“When we have commodities and lack clients, they go to waste. Some are sold at giveaway prices. For instance if you buy fruits at Rwf1, 200 and when you realize that they are about to decay, you sell them at Rwf600, it is a huge loss. We need public cold room facilities and pay a small fee,” she said.