Food losses are a major concern and occur in most fish distribution chains worldwide. Not only do losses constitute lost income to fishers, processors, and traders, but they also contribute to food insecurity. Progress has been made in identifying the direct causes of fish losses and quantifying the magnitude of the loss. However, loss reduction strategies have tended to focus on technological solutions and hence have overlooked the relevance of socio-economic factors, including gender relations, that influence the functioning of the fisheries value chain. This document provides guidance on integrating gender concerns into food loss interventions within the fish value chains. It describes the different steps to understand the key components of a gender-sensitive food loss value chain analysis. In particular, it recommends highlighting the dynamics and factors that influence women’s and men’s natural social disposition and participation in fisheries activities according to dominant assigned gender roles. While addressing the existing knowledge gaps and contributing to the development of an approach tailored to African small-scale fish value chains, this document also provides introductory information on the application of the FAO Gender-Responsive Fish Loss Assessment Methodology (GRFLAM).

This publication aims to help policy-makers, project designers and field practitioners to conceptualize the nexus between gender equality and food loss while offering practical guidance on and tools for integrating gender concerns into the planning and implementation of food loss studies and reduction strategies and interventions. By linking key concepts from gender-sensitive value chain development and the issue of food loss, it emerges that gender inequalities affect the overall efficiency of the food value chain and generate a poor performance that may cause produce to be removed from the chain. The publication provides critical information and entry points for food loss reduction interventions that improve the way women and men participate in and benefit from food production.

Using sustainable food value chain development (SFVCD) approaches to reduce poverty presents both great opportunities and daunting challenges. SFVCD requires a systems approach to identifying root problems, innovative thinking to find effective solutions and broad-based partnerships to implement programmes that have an impact at scale. In practice, however, a misunderstanding of its fundamental nature can easily result in value-chain projects having limited or non-sustainable impact. Furthermore, development practitioners around the world are learning valuable lessons from both failures and successes, but many of these are not well disseminated. This new set of handbooks aims to address these gaps by providing practical guidance on SFVCD to a target audience of policy-makers, project designers and field practitioners. This first handbook provides a solid conceptual foundation on which to build the subsequent handbooks. It (1) clearly defines the concept of a sustainable food value chain; (2) presents and discusses a development paradigm that integrates the multidimensional concepts of sustainability and value added; (3) presents, discusses and illustrates ten principles that underlie SFVCD; and (4) discusses the potential and limitations of using the value-chain concept in food-systems development. By doing so, the handbook makes a strong case for placing SFVCD at the heart of any strategy aimed at reducing poverty and hunger in the long run.

Food and nutrition security is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In an attempt to contribute to reaching this objective, school feeding programmes are serving meals to over 418 million pre-primary, primary and secondary schoolchildren around the world. The positive experience from a project supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Angola, Honduras and Peru that incorporated locally procured fish into home-grown school feeding (HGSF) programmes led to the elaboration of this toolkit. This toolkit is designed to support governments, project designers, managers and practitioners involved in the fishery value chain and school feeding, who want to incorporate locally procured, safe, nutritious and affordable fish and fish products into their existing HGSFs. Therefore, this toolkit is expected to assist them during the rapid assessment of the situation of the school feeding and fishery sector, and the identification of challenges and opportunities present while incorporating fish and fish products into HGSFs. To this end, this toolkit adopts three main approaches: the Sustainable Food Value Chain for Nutrition to enhance the consideration of nutrition lens in the value chain approach; the gender-transformative approach to support women fisherfolk in their activities and increase their participation in school feeding programmes; and local and inclusive food procurement to connect public demand for food to small-scale fisherfolk. Specifically, this toolkit proposes 4 phases and 15 flexible and adaptable tools to sustainably serve fish and fish products at schools.

This report analyzes the value chain and presents a food loss assessment of tomato crop in Nubaria District and Sharqia Governorate, as part of the project “Food Loss and Waste Reduction and Value Chain Development for Food Security in Egypt and Tunisia” implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) with funding from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. It aims to deepen understanding of the tomatoes value chain and the particular problem of food loss, in order to promote sustainable, market-based solutions that respond to the needs of small-scale holders.

This qualitative study was developed under the Empowering women and boosting livelihoods through agricultural trade: Leveraging the AfCFTA programme, co-implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Trade Centre (ITC). It seeks to assess gender dynamics along the fisheries and aquaculture value chains in Ghana and Nigeria, focusing particularly on women’s roles, barriers and trade potential. This report also provides gender-specific recommendations to address the identified challenges and enhance women’s trade potential in the selected regional value chain in Ghana and Nigeria.

The SSF Guidelines recognize the right of fishers and fishworkers, acting both individually and collectively, to improve their livelihoods through value chains, post-harvest operations and trade. To achieve this, the Guidelines recommend building capacity of individuals, strengthening organizations and empowering women; reducing post-harvest losses and adding value to small-scale fisheries production; and facilitating sustainable trade and equitable market access. This document includes nine studies showcasing applied practices and successful initiatives in support of enhancing small-scale fisheries value chains, post-harvest operations and trade, based on the recommendations contained in the SSF Guidelines. Cases presented have been chosen on the basis that they can be emulated elsewhere by small-scale fishery proponents including, but not limited to, national administrations, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, private enterprises, development agencies and intergovernmental bodies. An analysis of enabling conditions as well as related challenges and opportunities are discussed in each case. The document supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – specifically SDG 14.b: “provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets”; and SDG 2.3: “by 2030 double the agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment”.