A toolkit to support food loss and waste reduction initiatives

Post-harvest loss reduces the income of smallholder farmers by 15 percent and results in reduced food supply in developing regions. To address this problem, the Rockefeller Foundation launched the YieldWise Initiative in 2016.

It focused on reducing post-harvest loss by focusing on fruits, vegetables and staple crops in Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania — countries where up to half of all food grown is lost at different stages along the value chain. Specifically, the initiative targets four identified value chains: mango in Kenya, tomato and cassava in Nigeria and maize in Tanzania.

Genesis was contracted by the Rockefeller Foundation to unpack the learnings from the YieldWise programme in Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania and package these in an accessible toolkit, serving as a “how to do guide” for informing investments in food loss and waste (FLW) reduction.

More specifically, Genesis reflected on programme documents and conducted a series of interviews with the relevant stakeholders in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria to unpack lessons that have emerged through the course of the programme that are relevant to others when implementing FLW reduction initiatives.

The toolkit will illuminate the evidence of impact, new knowledge and areas where the initiative was not successful. This toolkit will be shared broadly with actors in this space to help scale effective FLW initiatives.