Lost harvest: examining the association between postharvest food loss and food insecurity in semi-arid Ghana

According to the World Resources Institute, about one in every four calories produced for human consumption globally is not eventually consumed by humans. In sub-Saharan Africa, postharvest food loss (PHL) alone accounts for 20-30% of annual production, with an estimated value of 1.6 billion USD. Yet, agricultural policies that target improving food security have largely focused on augmenting productivity with little attention to PHL reduction. That notwithstanding, PHL has the potential to undermine several key dimensions of food insecurity. For instance, it can compromise household food reserves and drive food price hikes. Reductions in food quality may also impact food utilization. The prevalence of PHL and its relationship with food insecurity, however, remains underexplored. Using a cross-sectional survey of smallholder farming households (n = 1100) in Ghana, we examined the association between PHL and food insecurity. Our findings show that, on average, 22% of household harvest is lost postharvest. Nested ordered logistic regression analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between PHL and food insecurity. A unit increase in PHL (OR = 1.08; p = 0.05) was significantly associated with an 8% increase in the odds of being severely food insecure. Our findings provide an empirical basis for the argument that addressing PHL is a viable entry point for addressing food insecurity in the Global South. While it is crucial to pay attention to production concerns, food policy must simultaneously address postharvest management challenges of smallholder farmers. Policies that prioritize investment in contextually relevant and low-cost solutions to postharvest management will be timely.