Does food loss play a role in shaping in South Pacific Island fresh food systems?

Background: The South Pacific region has very high rates of dietary-based non-communicable diseases and obesity, particularly in the Polynesian nations. To help address this challenge, there is a critical need to increase the availability of affordable, healthy and safe fresh fruits and vegetables. High crop loss due to smallholder farmers employing low-input farming practice and poor supply chain logistics, is likely to undermine the local food system.

Objectives: This study aimed to document horticulture food loss in the Pacific, and to explore farmer and vendor strategies to mitigate loss and their possible impact on the food system.

Study design, Settings Participants: Semi-structured smallholder horticultural farmer and vendor surveys were undertaken in Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, and the Solomon Islands, with supplementary chain studies of postharvest practice and loss.  

Measurable outcomes/analysis: Vendor and farmer practice and loss (based on recall) was documented along critical points in the chain. The level of loss was analysed according to practice, location, and crop. Farm and market visits were used to validate findings. 

Results: Mean horticultural food loss in the Pacific is 10 to 15% of market through-put. Horticultural chains sourcing from large farms, traders or supplying regional markets had elevated loss.  Markets with poor consumer accessibility also had high loss. Roadside markets had the lowest level of loss. Counter intuitively there was an inverse relationship between high crop perishability and loss, with outer-island chains also having lower loss relative to intra-island chains. Vendors actively restrict farm supply to aligned with daily consumer demand, as a key loss reduction strategy. Farmers in outer island chains often restrict production volume and crop selection to reduce loss. 

Conclusions: In the absence of effective postharvest infrastructure, Pacific farmers and vendors appear to regulate market supply as a key strategy to mitigate against elevated loss, potentially influencing the type and volume of crops available to local consumers. Market-based solutions to reduce loss may be inadvertently impacting health-eating outcomes.