Some key factors to reduce fruit and vegetable loss and waste in the view of farmers and other actors in this value chain
At the SIDEA conference recently held in Marina di Orosei, Italy, the LOWINFOOD partner Marco Nasso from UNITUS presented some preliminary results of the research carried out with stakeholders in the fruit & vegetables value chain regarding managing surplus products.
The purpose of this study was to define which strategies and related innovative operations management would have greater success and adhesion among operators in the fruit and vegetables sector. They collected, assessed, and discussed the similarities in the viewpoints of the actors and reported their opinions towards innovative practices that could enhance their operation’s sustainability.
One of the factors that were highly ranked was the efficacy of valorisation innovations as a solution to improve the management of food losses. In their opinion, coordinated actions of all the actors in the value chain to promote the recovery of food losses is the key to a step towards more circularity in the sector.
Regarding the management of surplus products and promotion of prevention actions, stakeholders supported innovations which focus on the redistribution of surplus food and the participation in digital platforms to enhance the use of funds and innovations. On the contrary, they ranked low innovations at the farmer level to produce energy from food losses.
Finally, a group of experts participating in the study ranked highly new market approaches to optimize the surplus of
product and to prevent food losses.