Ali Abdelrahman, Tan Yanwen, Medani Khalid, Xia Chunping, Abdullahi Nazir Muhammad, Mahmood Irfan, Yang Shilong
School of Economics & Management, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China; Agricultural Economics Department, Agricultural College, Fayoum University, Fayoum, 63514, Egypt.
School of Economics & Management, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China.
J Environ Manage. 2025 Jan;373:123458. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123458. Epub 2024 Nov 30.
Food losses and waste (FLW) have multidimensional environmental, social, and economic impacts, and avoidance efforts may yield better environmental gains than recovery. Horticulture has the highest FLW (≈50% of production loss), representing 38% of total global FLW. The primary data were collected from 343 grape farmers and middlemen in Egypt, and the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and the Category Method (C-Method) have been employed to estimate the percentage of Postharvest Losses (PHL) and its socio-economic and environmental effects across the supply chain (SC). Empirical findings show average PHL percentages of 10.06%, 5.82%, 6.53%, and 7.06% for growers, rural traders, wholesalers, and retailers. The total arable land, water, and energy consumed to grow this lost food are estimated at around 23 thousand hectares, 158 million m³, and 3.16 billion MJ of fossil energy (96.9 million liters of petrol), besides other agricultural inputs. This costs the economy of Egypt about $203.5 million yearly and emits 145 million tons of CO2eq. These findings highlight the significant role of cooperative marketing, shorter supply chains, and access to cold shipping, handling, and storage services to sustain product quality. Furthermore, agricultural education and extension are necessary to disseminate the best postharvest practices to increase stakeholders' knowledge and sustainably enhance SC actors' skills for using limited resources. These interventions require intensive public-private investment to incentivize small stakeholders to mitigate PHLs, accelerate food system transformation, and achieve sustainable production and consumption patterns.
粮食损失和浪费（FLW）具有多方面的环境、社会和经济影响，而且避免损失的努力可能比回收利用带来更好的环境效益。园艺业的粮食损失和浪费最为严重（约占生产损失的50%），占全球粮食损失和浪费总量的38%。主要数据收集自埃及的343名葡萄种植户和中间商，并采用生命周期评估（LCA）方法和类别法（C-方法）来估算供应链（SC）中收获后损失（PHL）的百分比及其社会经济和环境影响。实证研究结果表明，种植户、农村贸易商、批发商和零售商的收获后损失平均百分比分别为10.06%、5.82%、6.53%和7.06%。除其他农业投入外，种植这些损失的粮食所消耗的耕地、水和能源总量估计约为2.3万公顷、1.58亿立方米和31.6亿兆焦耳的化石能源（9690万升汽油）。这使埃及经济每年损失约2.035亿美元，并排放1.45亿吨二氧化碳当量。这些研究结果凸显了合作营销、缩短供应链以及获得冷链运输、处理和储存服务对于维持产品质量的重要作用。此外，农业教育和推广对于传播最佳收获后做法、增加利益相关者的知识以及可持续提高供应链参与者利用有限资源的技能是必要的。这些干预措施需要大量的公私投资，以激励小利益相关者减轻收获后损失，加速粮食系统转型，并实现可持续的生产和消费模式。
