Food losses in sub-Saharan Africa could be greatly reduced and billions of dollars a year could be saved by tackling the problem of post-harvest waste, the UN’s food agency said.

“Investing in post-harvest technologies to reduce food losses could significantly increase the food supply in sub-Saharan Africa,” the Food and Agriculture Organisation said in a new report produced with the World Bank.

The report, done in collaboration with Britain’s Natural Resources Institute, estimates the value of post-harvest grain losses in sub-Saharan Africa to be around four billion dollars a year.

The estimated annual grain production is worth $27 billion, meaning four billion dollars would be a roughly 15 per cent loss of output. READ MORE