Feeding Growing Cities: Collaborative efforts to tackle food loss and waste

Watch Full webinar recording; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aciniCXD1Y

The world’s population is set to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, with the share of people living in urban areas projected to increase to 70% by 2050. Africa and Asia currently face the highest rates of urbanization. More than 80% of food consumed in urban areas is grown outside the administrative boundaries. As cities expand, urban areas food systems face a converging crisis affecting food and nutrition security at multiple levels, from individual households to systemic levels. In addition, urban food systems are highly vulnerable to external shocks such as climate change, economic volatility and political instability, which often lead to significant disruptions in supply chains and increase food and nutrition insecurity. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that 13.3% of food is lost globally after harvest and before reaching the retail stage. An estimated 1.05 billion tonnes of food are wasted globally each year, representing approximately 19% of all food available to consumers. What begins as a loss at one point in the chain can ripple across the wider food system. The journey from farm to fork involves multiple points of vulnerability such as poor post-harvest storage and handling practices, unreliable transportation networks, weak market infrastructure and fragmented value chain coordination, all creating multiple opportunities for food to be lost before it reaches the people who need it.

This is the paradox at the heart of feeding growing cities: while millions of people face food and nutrition insecurity, significant quantities of nutritious food are simultaneously lost along supply chains or wasted in markets and at points of consumption. Food loss and waste is now a global burden, prompting a shift in how we think about feeding growing cities from simply producing more food to making better use of the food already produced. African Union’s CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2035, has set an ambitious target of reducing post-harvest losses in agriculture by 50% by 2035. Achieving this target will require coordinated action across technologies, markets, policies, investments and partnerships.

On August 25 2026, the CGIAR Food Frontiers and Security Program convened the Feeding Growing Cities: Reducing Food Loss and Waste through Innovation, Partnerships and Governance webinar, bringing together researchers, city leaders, practitioners and food systems stakeholders to examine what it will take to reduce food loss and waste at scale. Moderated by Dr. Joyce Maru, Regional Director for Africa at the International Potato Center (CIP), the discussion brought together reducing food waste and loss in cities perspectives from research, private sector, local government and development organisations. 

The source of preventing losses and creating value

Reducing food loss and waste is not simply about saving food. It is about retaining value across the food system, protecting farmers’ incomes, strengthening food security, creating jobs and making food systems more resilient. Up to 40% of Africa’s food comes from root and tuber crops, yet 30-50% are lost before reaching consumers. Dr. Mukani Moyo, Head of Urban Food Systems at CIP emphasised that prevention must start at the source through improved varieties, better agronomic and harvesting practices and extended to post-harvest technologies in storage, processing and stronger market systems. 

Fruits and vegetables, although known for their micronutrient benefits, are the most susceptible to postharvest losses compared to other crops. For vegetable traders, customised cold-chain solutions can make a significant difference. Dr. Mercy Mwambi, an agricultural economist at the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg), highlighted cool box technology that have reduced losses and increased savings among horticultural traders in Tanzania and Kenya. 

Where food waste does occur, Dr. Tosin Somorin, a waste management specialist at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), highlighted the potential of circular solutions to turn waste into valuable resources. Examples from Vietnam, Ghana and Kenya demonstrate how organic waste can be transformed into compost, briquettes, animal feed and fertiliser, creating new income opportunities while returning valuable nutrients to food production. However, scaling solutions that close nutrient loops will require greater access to finance, awareness, skills and practical support, she noted.

Mr Emeritus Kasee, the general manager of Kevian Kenya Farms provided examples of Kevian’s approach which combines improved genetics and clean seed with tissue culture, aeroponic and hydroponic production systems, soil and growing-media health, and good agricultural practices. Mr Kasee highlighted the importance of superior varieties and healthy production systems in reducing losses caused by pests and diseases, including potato cyst nematode and late blight.

Reducing food loss and waste should begin with business-specific diagnostics rather than generic interventions. According to Mr. Johnson Kiragu, Director of the East and Southern Africa Client Portfolio at Partners in Food Solutions, identifying where losses occur from handling and transportation to cold storage, processing, packaging and marketing enables experts to tailor solutions to the specific needs, constraints and operating environment of each business.

Working with local governments is key

Cities are both at the center of the global food loss and waste challenge and critical to developing solutions. The discussion underscored the important role of local governments in translating food loss and waste interventions into coordinated city-wide action. Winfred Katumo, Director of Food Systems and Sector Programme at Nairobi City County highlighted that through partnerships, the county governments can link food loss reduction with food security, livelihoods and employment. With 80% of Nairobi’s food sourced from outside the county, the city is investing in better post-harvest handling, storage, food recovery and value addition. For these interventions to move beyond individual projects, however, they need to be embedded in policies, strategies, market planning and investment frameworks.

Dr. Luke Metelerkamp, head of African City Food Center of ICLEI Africa, emphasised that local governments are particularly well positioned to coordinate action because waste management is a clear local and subnational government mandate. He pointed to the value of building action-oriented coalitions that bring together government, businesses, communities and other stakeholders around specific and measurable targets. Clear city-level targets, backed by investment and partnerships, can create an ecosystem in which new businesses, livelihoods and solutions emerge.

Connecting global expertise with local realities

The scale and complexity of food loss and waste also require stronger connections between global research and local action. According to Dr. Anna Okello, Director of CGIAR Food Frontiers and Security Science program, CGIAR’s comparative advantage lies not only in generating evidence, but in brokering and connecting knowledge across countries and contexts. Its global research and innovation networks can bring together lessons from places such as Ghana, Vietnam and India, allowing governments, researchers, communities, NGOs and businesses to learn from what works, what does not, and why. This role is particularly important in urban food systems, where production, markets, nutrition, waste, livelihoods and governance are closely interconnected. CGIAR can also mobilise diverse partners and move research generated as a global public good into the hands of governments, development organisations and the private sector, helping translate evidence into practical solutions and scale.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Simon Heck, Director General, CIP, reiterated the need to turn the ideas generated during the discussion into action. Dr. Simon noted that food loss and waste presents a unique opportunity because of its local urgency and immediacy, bringing together local governments, businesses, communities and researchers around tangible problems and practical solutions. For CGIAR Food Frontiers and Security Program, this means connecting global science and innovation from genetics and production to markets and post-harvest technologies with the momentum already emerging in cities, businesses and local governments. 

The message from the discussion was clear: feeding growing cities will require more than producing more food. It will require preventing losses, recovering value, strengthening local systems and connecting the right actors around solutions that work. With stronger partnerships between research institutions, private sector, communities and local governments, food that might otherwise be lost can become food, generate income and jobs, helping build more resilient and inclusive urban food systems.