On the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, WFO explores how farmers’ organisations are helping prevent food loss, make better use of agricultural by-products and create new opportunities for farming communities.

Around 13.3% of the world’s food is lost between harvest and retail, while a further 19% of the food available to consumers is wasted at retail, food service and household level.

These figures cover different stages of the value chain, but together they point to a shared challenge: reducing food loss and waste requires coordinated action from farmers, processors, distributors, retailers, consumers and policymakers alike.

Reducing food loss and waste can help more food reach consumers, ease pressure on the land, water and energy used to produce it and strengthen productivity and economic opportunities across agrifood systems.

Food loss and food waste occur at different stages of the value chain. For farmers, losses during harvesting, storage, transport and processing mean more than food failing to reach the market: they also represent lost income, labour, resources and investment.

Addressing these challenges requires action across the entire value chain. Farmers and their organisations have a central role to play at farm and post-harvest level. Across the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) membership, they are developing practical ways to preserve perishable produce, strengthen connections with markets and turn agricultural by-products into valuable resources.

Experiences collected through The Climakers, a WFO-led initiative, show what action can look like on the ground.

Preventing Food Loss and Preserving Value

Food can be lost when farmers lack adequate storage, processing facilities, transport or reliable connections with buyers. For perishable products in particular, processing and preservation solutions can extend shelf life, maintain value and create additional opportunities for farming communities.

In Mauritius, the Farmers in Agriculture, Livestock, Cooperative, Organic Network (F.A.L.C.O.N.) highlighted an initiative to process surplus fruit and vegetables into products with a longer shelf life. Digital orders and fixed collection points were also used to connect produce with buyers.

The experience brings together several elements that can help prevent losses: preserving perishable produce, improving the connection between supply and demand and creating more opportunities for farmers to market their produce.

In India, the Indian Cooperative Network for Women (ICNW) continues to support women farmers in processing and preserving locally available seasonal produce. Products include dried vegetables, groundnut- and rice-based foods, and products made from tamarind, chillies and bananas. These foods are used for household consumption and sold through local markets, village fairs and cooperative networks. By extending the shelf life of perishable and surplus produce, the initiative helps improve household food availability while creating additional income-generating opportunities for women.

Women farmers supported by ICNW in India. Photo: ICNW

Other experiences collected through The Climakers point to further ways in which farmers’ organisations can help preserve agricultural products and their value. In Madagascar, Fikambanana Fampivoarana ny Tantsaha (FIFATA) reported work to improve post-harvest storage. In Viet Nam, the Viet Nam Farmers’ Union (VNFU) documented how cinnamon growers came together in a cooperative and developed processing capacity, strengthening their access to markets and their ability to retain more value locally.

These cases reflect the diversity of action required: from storage and processing to capacity building, collective organisation and stronger connections between farmers and buyers.

Creating New Value from Agricultural By-products

Reducing food loss is not the same as making better use of agricultural residues. Both, however, are part of using agricultural resources more efficiently. By keeping materials in productive use, circular economy approaches can reduce waste, create new inputs and products, and generate additional economic opportunities for farmers.

In Italy, the Confederazione Nazionale Coltivatori Diretti (Coldiretti) documented an initiative connecting farmers with the Matrica biorefineries in Sardinia. The initiative involved farmers growing cardoon on abandoned, non-irrigated land and supplying it, alongside agricultural residues, for the production of materials including bioplastics and biolubricants.

The initiative illustrates how cooperation between farmers and industry can create new value chains and uses for agricultural materials. It also shows the importance of distinguishing between crops intentionally cultivated as raw materials and residues generated through agricultural production.

Further circular economy practices documented through The Climakers show how agricultural residues can be returned to production systems or used to generate energy. In Cambodia, the Cambodian Farmer Federation Association of Agricultural Producers (CFAP) documented the composting of rice straw and poultry-farm waste. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Confédération Nationale des Producteurs Agricoles du Congo (CONAPAC) documented the production of compost and vermicompost from farm residues for use in coffee production.

In Germany, the Deutscher Bauernverband (DBV), the German Farmers’ Association, reported on the use of livestock manure in biogas plants, while the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) highlighted energy production from manure, animal bedding and agrifood processing residues.

Although these initiatives differ in scale and approach, they share a common principle: materials that might otherwise have limited value can become inputs for new products, renewable energy or agricultural production.

Supporting and Scaling Farmers’ Action

These experiences show both what farmers’ organisations can contribute and the main conditions needed to extend their impact.

The WFO Policy on Food Loss and Waste, adopted by the WFO General Assembly in June 2025, identifies several priorities for supporting and scaling action, including:

• investment in storage, processing and post-harvest infrastructure;
• affordable access to finance and appropriate technologies;
• training and technical assistance;
• research and innovation that respond to farmers’ needs;
• stronger cooperation across the value chain;
• enabling policies and incentives;
• fair recognition of the time, costs and value contributed by farmers.

Reducing food loss and waste is not the responsibility of farmers alone. It depends on coordinated action across the agrifood system and on ensuring that farmers and their organisations have the resources, infrastructure and partnerships they need to deliver impact.

The examples collected through The Climakers show what farmers’ organisations can do: preserving perishable produce, strengthening farmers’ capacities and creating new uses for agricultural by-products. They also show the role these organisations can play in scaling practical solutions across the agrifood system.

Unlocking the full transformative potential of reducing food loss and waste means investing in the farmers and farmers’ organisations that make these solutions work in practice.