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Book (stand-alone)Manual / guideReducing food loss and waste in the processing, distribution and retail operations of micro, small and medium-sized food processing enterprises
A technical manual
2024Also available in:
Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is an important concern for all stakeholders across the food value chain – from producers, those involved in harvesting, handling, distribution, processing, and retail, to consumers. There is an urgent need to raise awareness and, more importantly, build the technical capacities of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the agrifood sector, allowing them to reduce the levels of food loss in their processing and distribution operations. This manual is designed as an easy-to-use, informational, and instructional resource on how to measure and reduce food losses at the MSME level, and to reduce food waste in retail. It presents salient information on:- identifying food loss hotspots and their underlying causes in the processing and distribution operations of MSMEs;
- measuring the levels of loss at each hotspot;
- introducing simple innovations that are technically, economically, and socially appropriate, as well as good practices to reduce food loss at each hotspot; and
- measuring food waste in retail and identifying actions that can measurably reduce the levels of food waste in retail.
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Brochure, flyer, fact-sheetBrochureMicro-, small and medium-sized enterprises increase supply of nutritious food in local markets
Success stories from Kenya and Malawi
2025Also available in:
No results found.Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are key players in local food supply chains, handling about 65% of the food consumed in regions like Africa and South Asia. Therefore, they are a key entry point to promote and increase the local availability of nutritious food and improve the food environment, while being a source for income and employment, and instrumental for the economic inclusion and self-reliance of women and youth.The success stories presented in this publication showcase MSMEs in Kenya and Malawi increasing their production of nutritious food and suppling these to the local markets as the result of a specifically designed mentoring and coaching program. The program promoted their knowledge and skills in production, food safety, conservation and proper handling, diversification of products, and marketing of nutritious food, complemented by general business and financial management skills and reinforced by the investment in basic equipment. The success stories show that MSMEs enhanced their capacities to introduce and sustain strategic improvements that increase their supply of nutritious food; that unmet local demand for nutritious and diverse food bears opportunities for MSMEs; that the mentoring and coaching program, by identifying individualized business solutions, is applicable to all food products and stages of the food supply chains, and that these activities are therefore adaptable to the food system priorities of each territory. -
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookUpgrading business models for nutritious foods – A training package for small and medium enterprises
Facilitator guide
2025Also available in:
No results found.Improving the availability, affordability, and convenience of nutritious foods is at the heart of FAO's efforts to transform agrifood systems in support of human and planetary health. As main food suppliers, agrifood small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a critical role in this endeavor. This training package spans across range of topics - from healthy diets to food safety management, from foods processing and its impact on nutrition, to marketing and agribusiness management - to support agrifood SMEs to integrate a “nutrition perspective” in their business models and practices. The present facilitator guide is the entry point to the training package and includes a set of handouts, and links to two questionnaires to tailor the program to participants needs, and ten PowerPoint presentations to be used in training sessions for agrifood SMEs.
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Brochure, flyer, fact-sheetBrochureCapacity-building to reduce avoidable food waste in micro, small and medium food processing enterprises and in retail 2019
Also available in:
No results found.Food loss and waste represent an enormous economic cost to businesses and society and significantly impacts the environment. Much of this waste and its environmental footprint can be avoided entirely. Food that ends up in a landfill creates methane gas, which is 25 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide. Moreover, food waste is responsible for over 7 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, meaning it is a part of the challenge in tackling climate change. The brochure provides and overview of a project which addresses the reduction of food loss and waste in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and food retail outlets. This project is being implemented with the Royal Thai Government in support of MSMEs in the Kingdom of Thailand. -
Policy briefPolicy briefSupporting forest sector micro, small and medium enterprises at scale
The experience of the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme
2021Also available in:
No results found.Between 2016-2021, the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme funded 96 MSME support projects in 20 countries globally. These projects reached 3,300 MSMEs in total, but the 41 projects with a specific capacity building focus were able to train an average of 71 MSMEs per project. Although these projects were instrumental in helping beneficiaries to operate legally and access new markets, the number of MSMEs reached remains small compared to the sheer number that require support in tropical timber-producing countries. The current scale of engagement is not entirely limited by investment and resources, but also by several challenges that make it inherently difficult to effectively engage MSMEs. As part of a Programme-wide global experience capitalisation process, staff members conducted interviews with local partners and, where possible, end beneficiaries of the projects. Local partners were asked to reflect on strategies that could have allowed them to reach more MSMEs in their projects, and on the broader enabling conditions that would need to be put in place to enable MSMEs to participate in legal timber production at a larger scale. Through these interviews, and the collective experience of these MSME support projects, the Programme has identified strategies for overcoming these challenges and that could be adopted by future interventions to reach tens of thousands – rather than hundreds – of MSMEs. These strategies are discussed in the paper. -
Book (stand-alone)Manual / guideReducing food loss and waste in the processing, distribution and retail operations of micro, small and medium-sized food processing enterprises
A technical manual
2024Also available in:
Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is an important concern for all stakeholders across the food value chain – from producers, those involved in harvesting, handling, distribution, processing, and retail, to consumers. There is an urgent need to raise awareness and, more importantly, build the technical capacities of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the agrifood sector, allowing them to reduce the levels of food loss in their processing and distribution operations. This manual is designed as an easy-to-use, informational, and instructional resource on how to measure and reduce food losses at the MSME level, and to reduce food waste in retail. It presents salient information on:- identifying food loss hotspots and their underlying causes in the processing and distribution operations of MSMEs;
- measuring the levels of loss at each hotspot;
- introducing simple innovations that are technically, economically, and socially appropriate, as well as good practices to reduce food loss at each hotspot; and
- measuring food waste in retail and identifying actions that can measurably reduce the levels of food waste in retail.
-
Brochure, flyer, fact-sheetBrochureCapacity-building to reduce avoidable food waste in micro, small and medium food processing enterprises and in retail 2019
Also available in:
No results found.Food loss and waste represent an enormous economic cost to businesses and society and significantly impacts the environment. Much of this waste and its environmental footprint can be avoided entirely. Food that ends up in a landfill creates methane gas, which is 25 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide. Moreover, food waste is responsible for over 7 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, meaning it is a part of the challenge in tackling climate change. The brochure provides and overview of a project which addresses the reduction of food loss and waste in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and food retail outlets. This project is being implemented with the Royal Thai Government in support of MSMEs in the Kingdom of Thailand. -
Policy briefPolicy briefSupporting forest sector micro, small and medium enterprises at scale
The experience of the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme
2021Also available in:
No results found.Between 2016-2021, the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme funded 96 MSME support projects in 20 countries globally. These projects reached 3,300 MSMEs in total, but the 41 projects with a specific capacity building focus were able to train an average of 71 MSMEs per project. Although these projects were instrumental in helping beneficiaries to operate legally and access new markets, the number of MSMEs reached remains small compared to the sheer number that require support in tropical timber-producing countries. The current scale of engagement is not entirely limited by investment and resources, but also by several challenges that make it inherently difficult to effectively engage MSMEs. As part of a Programme-wide global experience capitalisation process, staff members conducted interviews with local partners and, where possible, end beneficiaries of the projects. Local partners were asked to reflect on strategies that could have allowed them to reach more MSMEs in their projects, and on the broader enabling conditions that would need to be put in place to enable MSMEs to participate in legal timber production at a larger scale. Through these interviews, and the collective experience of these MSME support projects, the Programme has identified strategies for overcoming these challenges and that could be adopted by future interventions to reach tens of thousands – rather than hundreds – of MSMEs. These strategies are discussed in the paper. -
Book (stand-alone)Manual / guideReducing food loss and waste in the processing, distribution and retail operations of micro, small and medium-sized food processing enterprises
A technical manual
2024Also available in:
Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is an important concern for all stakeholders across the food value chain – from producers, those involved in harvesting, handling, distribution, processing, and retail, to consumers. There is an urgent need to raise awareness and, more importantly, build the technical capacities of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the agrifood sector, allowing them to reduce the levels of food loss in their processing and distribution operations. This manual is designed as an easy-to-use, informational, and instructional resource on how to measure and reduce food losses at the MSME level, and to reduce food waste in retail. It presents salient information on:- identifying food loss hotspots and their underlying causes in the processing and distribution operations of MSMEs;
- measuring the levels of loss at each hotspot;
- introducing simple innovations that are technically, economically, and socially appropriate, as well as good practices to reduce food loss at each hotspot; and
- measuring food waste in retail and identifying actions that can measurably reduce the levels of food waste in retail.