It aims to identify new ways to lower food waste during the production of food crops, which is important to families in parts of Africa and Asia. It also aims to develop new food products such as snack food from the crops, and identify new markets.
In addition, it will focus on efficient use of waste such as peels, liquid waste, so that higher value products such as snack foods, mushrooms can be developed for human consumption.
It is expected that the project will help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) make connections with large-scale industry and lead to job creation.
Currently, it is estimated that growers can lose up to 60% of yam and 30% of cassava during the processing of the crops after harvesting. The researchers plan to reduce these losses by using better storage and processing techniques to reduce waste and turn it into something of value.
The project will start by introducing pilot schemes to lower waste in Nigeria, Ghana, Vietnam and Thailand.
The project is being led by scientists from University of Greenwich's Natural Resources Institute in the UK. It has received nearly €3m of funding from the Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
