Agro-food loss and waste is caused by different factors in the course of production, distribution, processing and consumption of agro-good, and it affects the economy and society in a various manner. In order to resolve problems stemming from agro-food loss and waste, detailed understanding of its status should be achieved by establishing statistics on agro-food loss and waste. This study has the purpose of researching basic elements necessary to build statistics on agro-food loss and waste and then of laying the foundation for systematic and consistent statistics.
To meet the purpose above, the study is largely divided into the four sections. Chapter 2 explains the concept of agro-food loss and waste and the current status of measuring local and foreign agro-food loss and waste. Chapter 3 shows a finding by reviewing the Japanese and the US data on agro-food loss and waste. Chapter 4 analyzes the causes and features of loss and waste of key agro-foods by processing step. Chapter 5 suggests a direction for building loss and waste statistics on agro-food based on the results above.
In the study, agro-food loss and waste refers to quantitative loss of agro-food caused by the disposal of harvested agro-food and accumulated until the value of its usability is fully gone. In particular, loss refers to any type of quantity loss including weight reduction not accompanied by disposal. Waste refers to partial or entire disposal of agro-food with intention in order to handle rotten or deteriorated produce and adjust produce volume.
In this study, eight commodities including rice, potato, Chinese cabbage, radish, onion, apple, and mandarin are selected from the staple crop, vegetable and fruit categories. Interviews and questionnaire-based surveys were conducted against stakeholder for each step of agro-food processing from production to consumption to understand the causes and current status of loss and waste of agro-food. In the process, the direction for building the loss and waste statistics was determined.
When building the statistics on agro-food loss and waste by commodity, in principle, it is intended to build the statistics by each processing step of agro-good after harvesting from production to consumption. Therefore, based on this assumption, except for the initial screening after harvesting, all processing steps including production, wholesale, retail and consumption should be covered.
The research is supposed to cover loss and waste to identify overall food loss. However, it should be also considered that quantity reduction is not the major cause of loss, and compared with waste measuring loss through actual research is not easy. The items for research should include the waste ratio for edible and inedible portions of a commodity by processing step and the loss ratio by commodity.
The research on statistics by processing step from production to consumption should consider and reflect features and differences by commodity. Research items could be selected among vegetables, fruits and potatoes in consideration of 1) significance in food supply, 2) relevance to existing statistics and 3) occurrence status of reduction and waste.
To generalize the statistical research results, it is more desirable to select interviewees and regions from nationwide by commodity and processing step. As for research methods, considering research efficiency, effectiveness, representation capability and credibility, proper methods including interview, measurement and producers’ log-based research could be used separately or in parallel.
Research cycle could be set by applying the same period to all processing steps or applying different periods by processing step depending on their features and research efficiency. However, in the decision making stage, cost factor should be considered as well including the cost of administrative resources mobilized for statistical researches.
To select the leading research entity responsible for building agro-food loss and waste statistics, things like relevance to previous statistics and researches and consistency in statistics and efficiency of statistical researches should be taken into consideration. Broadly speaking, a research on agro-food loss and waste could be conducted by 1) Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Food or National Statistical Office alone or 2) in conjunction with related research agencies and relevant organizations.
In general, if a single organization conducts a research alone, consistency can be guaranteed for the research. However, administrative and cost burden might be notable due to the breadth of research target, scope and contents. If multiple organizations are involved in conducting a research, efficient implementation will be possible due to expertise and statistical research system of each participating party. However, this brings about the issue of amalgamating research results, requiring efficient and effective interplay of related organizations. If participating in a research is not binding on them, in reality pursuing the research will be very difficult. Due to the involvement of multiple organizations, contents consistency may be difficult to maintain and the amalgamation of different research results will not be easy. Therefore, if you consider assigning each step of a statistical research to different agencies depending on their specialty, a long-term implementation plan should be established first before bringing the research into action.
Researchers: Hwang Yun-Jae, Cho Myung-ki and Han Jae-Hwan
E-mail address: yjhwang@krei.re.kr