An assessment of food loss and waste in the Hungarian agrifood supply chain: Encouraging sustainable and conscious consumption

Rabbi Mohammad Fazle (2022) An assessment of food loss and waste in the Hungarian agrifood supply chain: Encouraging sustainable and conscious consumption. Prosperitas, 9(3) (4). ISSN 2786-4359

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.31570/prosp_2022_0026

Abstract

All through the entire supply chain, the agri-food sector has been negatively affected by significant shortages of resources, food loss, and waste. Managing the supply chain and pursuing sustainable lifestyles can be made easier through the assessment of food loss and waste. This study examines seven staple crops in the Hungarian food supply chain. The following food items were selected for analysis: wheat, maize (corn), rice, sorghum, barley, rye, and oats. Secondary data were compiled from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) between 2009 and 2017. A PAST program was used to analyse the data, generate descriptive statistics, and pairwise comparisons with the Mann-Whitney tests were used to measure all seven crops’ performance. Cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling were used to classify similarities between variables and, through the comparison of the amount of crop loss and waste, data in a two-dimensional space is depicted. This study provides two key findings. First, food loss and waste (FL&W) translate into resource shortages and unsustainable practices. Second, surplus food donation by corporations and conscious consumption at the consumer level is a solution to FL&W reduction. Furthermore, the use of five sustainable consumption guidelines is strongly suggested at the consumer level. To stabilize food security and sustainability, food producers, distributors, stakeholders, and policy planners must work together to improve food systems.