Towards a Continental Post-Harvest Strategy of the African Union

If the AU's Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) is one of the AU;s best-kept secrets on committing governments to dedicate 10% of their budget to agriculture, then Post-Harvest Losses (PHL) may be yet-another acronym that remains an even bigger secret. There can be no food without a structured agricultural sector, but recent studies indicate that, currently, a third of all food produced fr human consumption is lost or wasted from the farm to the consumers. In a statement copied to Ecowas Business News from the AU's Department on Agriculture and Rural Economy, the African Union Commission, Food and Agriculture Organisation, and Rockefeller Foundation closed a two-day meeting on 27th July, with an an expected outcome of a Continental Post-Harvest Strategy. So far, five out of fifty-five countries -- Malawi, Mauritania, Rwanda, Togo and Uganda -- are on track towards achieving the post-harvest loss target by 2025. Togo is clearly th...