The main purpose of producing food is to ensure that it gets to those who need it (that’s the consumers) at the right time. Also, it is essential that the food has to be in the correct state with the appropriate nutrients for it to be consumed. Food also represents the culture and heritage of a particular group or those who produce it. Overall, every food produced has its identity and intended purpose, and achieving it helps to contribute to food security. However, increasing post-harvest loss is a threat to livelihood and identity, and not only that, it deprives millions of people of a good meal for the day.

When food is lost to post-harvest loss, it is not only food that is being lost; the efforts (labor) of the producers are lost, the revenue is reduced, livelihood is affected, and the resources or inputs put together to produce the food are lost, the light and oxygen used up are wasted, the water used is wasted and the self-fulfillment is gradually eroded amongst others. Thus, post-harvest losses are beyond economic loss in reality, social and environmental losses are experienced, and it could negatively affect the resilience of the farmers (mental and emotional). Therefore, we need to put measures in place to reduce these losses at the primary production (at the farmers’ level).

There is a need to build a robust system in the food supply chain that encourages value-addition practices and increases produce shelf life at the different stages of the value chains. Also, we need to be intentional in developing the agro-processing industry through incentives (tax waivers or reduction, removal of multiple taxation) and access to patient capital (at least 5 years) to increase more active players in the industry. Also, at the farm level, we need to encourage the adoption of a simple storage facility (at affordable pricing) that increases the shelf life of food and at the same time increases investment in R&D to improve these storage techniques.

Postharvest losses should not be perceived as an act of God but rather as an act of men due to little knowledge to proactively increase the shelf life of food. So, this is the right time to make this a lifelong vision for every farmer to reduce postharvest losses as this deprives many people of accessibility to food, contributing to insecurity. We are all hunger fighters and this fight starts with post-harvest losses. Let us embrace technology in this fight and the losses turn out to be a blessing!