USE OF NON-COMMERCIAL POTATO SURPLUSES IN COLOMBIA

BY

Brayan David Sabogal Ramírez

FOOD WASTAGE PROJECT

English

Teacher

Leonardo Loaiza

UNIVERIDAD NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA

SEDE MEDELLÍN
2019

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 INDEX

1. Justification …………………………………………………………………………...3

2. Basic Concepts………………………………………………………………………...4

2.1 Food Loss………………………………………………………………………….4

2.2 Food Waste………………………………………………………………………..5

3. Problems derived from Loss and Waste of Food…………………………………….6

3.1 Environmental Problem………………………………………………………….. 6

3.2 Unsustainable Agriculture ………………………………………………………..6

3.3 Water Impact………………………………………………………………………6

3.4 Social Impact………………………………………………………………………7

3.5 Economic Impact…………………………………………………………………..7

4. Loss and Waste of Potatoes in Colombia………………………………………………8

5. Project Features………………………………………………………………………10

5.1 Production Process Diagram……………………………………………………..10

5.2 Market Study………………………………………………………………..........11

6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………....11

7. Cybergraphy………………………………………………………………………….12

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1. JUSTIFICATION

Reducing the loss and waste of food in the world has become a problem of vital importance, and

because of its urgent nature has been consolidated as a global purpose of sustainable development

in "the General Assembly of the United Nations, September 25, 2015 , with 193 subscribed

countries " (FAO, 2017).

Now, loss of food is understood as any food that is lost in the supply chain between the producer

and the market (harvest, plagues, harvesting, storage, distribution) and as food waste to the

discarding or alternative use of food ( state of the food, especially in kitchens)

According to the FAO, about one third of all food produced worldwide is lost and wasted, and

although all the people of the world can play an important role in reducing waste, it is almost

impossible not to generate some kind of loss, for It is necessary to create a project that allows not

only to reduce waste and food losses, but also to take advantage of unavoidable losses in a

productive process that generates a positive social, environmental and economic impact, in order

to mitigate this problem. It will analyze, in this case, the potato production in Colombia, and its

complex productive system that generates high losses in the productive chain and a huge social

impact. The best way to take advantage of and transform the non-commercial surpluses (Lost and

waste) through a productive process will be sought.

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2. BASIC CONCEPTS

Before talking about food losses and waste, it is necessary to distinguish these concepts, in

order to better understand the problems that are being experienced in the world in terms of the

food industry; However, when we speak of losses and waste, indirect reference is made to the

inadequate use of important resources such as water, land, energy, capital, the unnecessary

production of greenhouse gases and climate change. So to reduce said losses and waste is to

contribute to the good use of resources.

For its part, FAO defines what:

2.1 LOSS OF FOOD

It refers to any food that is lost in the supply chain, between the producer and the market. What

can be the result of problems prior to harvest, such as infestations of pests, problems in harvesting,

handling, storage, packaging and transport and are higher in developing countries due to the

precariousness of infrastructure, the low technological level and the lack of investment in food

production systems, that is to say, that the losses are generated mainly by insufficiencies in the

production chain. However, losses during collection and storage translate into income losses for

small farmers and high costs for consumers, reducing such losses means a positive impact on

subsistence crops in developing countries.

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 2.2 FOOD WASTE

It is understood as Food Waste to the discarding of food. This occurs in the commercialization

stage and therefore the waste of food manifests itself in several ways:

 Third quality products, which due to their shape, size, maturation are discarded

(classification operations).

 Products that are close to expiring, or that are shriveled, discarded most of all by retailers

and consumers.

 . And the large quantities of healthy foods that are sometimes wasted in domestic kitchens

and restaurants.

Food waste is a major problem in industrialized countries, in most cases caused by retailers and

consumers who throw food in good condition in the trash.

In developing countries food losses occur in the production chain and especially affect small

farmers. FAO estimates that between 30% and 40% of total production can be lost before it reaches

the market as a result of problems ranging from the misuse of inputs to the lack of adequate storage,

processing or transport facilities after Harvest. These losses can reach 40% or 50% in the case of

root crops and fruits and vegetables, 30% in the case of cereals and fish and 20% in the case of

oilseeds.

In industrialized countries, waste refers to the food that has reached the market. The purchasing

habits of affluent consumers who have a waste-based mentality and buy more food than their

family can consume are part of the problem. Waste also includes overproduction, often derived

from subsidies to agriculture and source of excess supply with respect to demand, and withdrawal

of safe food from the market or supermarkets in compliance with rigorous regulations.

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3. PROBLEMS ARISING FROM FOOD LOSSES AND WASTE

Environmental problem

Now, the waste of food damages the climate, water, land and biodiversity.

According to the FAO report "The footprint of food waste: impacts on natural resources" of 2013,

the staggering figure of 1300 million tons of food that is wasted annually not only causes great

economic losses, but also serious damage to the natural resources on which humanity depends to

feed itself. Namely:

 Emissions of greenhouse gases According to the FAO, food waste is responsible for 8%

of global emissions of greenhouse gases pj: cereals generate a large impact on carbon

emissions and the use of water and soil. Rice is particularly notable, given its high methane

emissions along with a high level of waste and vegetables produce a large carbon footprint.

(Responsable)

3.2 Unsustainable agriculture According to the FAO itself, the total area cultivated on Earth

is about 1.4 billion hectares and almost 30% of the world's agricultural land is used to produce

food that will never be consumed, with a significant environmental cost since this Waste also

contributes to reducing the quality of the land, the volume of water flows and biodiversity, as

well as the waste of unsustainable agriculture means the consumption of 19% of fertilizers.

3.3 Water impact As explained by the FAO, the blue water footprint (ground and surface water)

for the agricultural production of food products of 250 km3 and the loss and waste of food

consume up to 21% of the fresh water in the world.

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 3.4 Social problem According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

(FAO), produced food that is never consumed would be enough to feed 2 billion people

worldwide, thus solving to a large extent the problem of global hunger that affects several

populations of the world, that is why "addressing the losses of food waste is an objective

defined in the Sustainable Development Goals (goal SDG 12.3, which also contributes

directly to the goal SDG 12.5 and SDG 2), agreed internationally, and a fundamental

element of the Zero Hunger Challenge " (FAO, Apoyo en materia de políticas y gobernanza)

3.5 Economic problem More than a third of the food produced worldwide is lost or wasted.

According to FAO, the total cost of food loss and waste is one billion dollars, about 700

billion in environmental costs and about 900 billion in social costs.

4. POTATOES AND WASTE OF POPE IN COLOMBIA

With an available national supply of food of 28.5 million tons a 9, 76 million tons of total food are

lost and wasted, and in Colombia a total of 810,000 tons of potatoes are lost and wasted, which is

equivalent to 34% of the total. In other words, for every 3 tons of potato production, one ton is

lost. Of the total of food lost and wasted, 64% corresponds to losses that occur in the stages of

production, post-harvest, storage and industrial processing. The remaining 36% corresponds to

waste generated in the distribution and consumption stages of households

The links that have the largest share in loss and total waste are those of agricultural production

with 40.5% and distribution and additionally, post-harvest, and storage and consumption have

shares of 19.8 and 15.6% in the loss and in the total waste.

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Of the 9.76 million tons lost and wasted, 6.1 million correspond to fruits and vegetables, 2.4

million to roots and tubers, 772,000 to cereals, 269,000 to meat, 148,000 to oilseeds.

and legumes, 50,000 fish and 29,000 dairy products. This represents a share of fruits and

vegetables within the total loss and waste of 62% followed by roots and tubers with a share of 25,

however, this project focuses on the production, loss and waste of potatoes, given that this tuber is

one of the fundamental pillars in the Colombian economy, in the Andean area there is

approximately 90% of the area sown with potatoes, especially in four departments: Cundinamarca

with 37%, Boyacá with 27%, Nariño with 20 % and Antioquia with 6%.

According to the Ministry of agriculture and rural development, by 2018 the production of potatoes

could reach 2 million 690 thousand tons (rural, 2018), nevertheless, the production of said tubercle

is classified as a subsistence crop that demands a large amount of fertilizers, pesticides, a high

demand for wages (between 110 and 120 wages per hectare), with little access to technology, a

high dispersion, high losses and poor adaptability to market conditions (Barbosa, 2011).

However, it is estimated that 90% of potato farmers grow a little more than one hectare per year

(90,000 families produce about 130,000 h), that is, it is a small-scale agriculture, without access

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to credit, which makes it difficult access to new technologies to improve productivity, reduce

production costs, reduce large losses (around 30% of total t / h) and expand profit margins

(Portafolio, 2018). For Colombia it is of vital importance to guarantee the autonomy and the food

security of the country, as well as to guarantee the source of income of the national agriculture,

therefore this project arises as a need to mitigate said losses through the use of the surplus (waste)

of potatoes in a productive process. That generates added value to the potato production chain,

mitigating with it the social, economic and environmental impact.

For this, the preparation of potato flour for mass and industrial consumption was determined as

the best alternative, since even if dehydrated and processed the potato flour can be stored for up to

18 months, conserving its organoleptic properties and having an untapped market depending To a

large extent of the imports in the absence of national production of potato flour. Achieving with

this measure take advantage from 80% to 97% of the potato waste, although there are the

underlying problems related to low technification, low production and high dispersion in land

concentration, however, this project manages to take advantage of the problem of waste that

reaches up to 30% of the total cultivated potato, generates additional income to farmers, decreases

losses, and general employment. to allow the creation of a value-added food with high nutritional

value, with the possibility of adding mineral supplements or according to the population

(deficiencies as iron in the population of the Guajira, school population) or for its use as a raw

material in large sectors of the food industry from large to small scale or in the agricultural food

sector.

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 5. PROJECT FEATURES

Potato varieties grown in Colombia have about 79% of their weight in water and about 21% of

their weight is equivalent to dry matter, in which the useful nutrients of the tuber are found. This

21% will determine the productivity of the plant, and therefore the production yield. The project

will be located in an urban geographic area that has access to areas that have as main economic

activity the cultivation of potatoes, with access to basic services of energy and potable water for

the proper functioning of the production plant. Since the Department of Cundinamarca is the

largest national producer, is strategically located and has access to major urban and industrial

centers of the country as other papicultores departments, this would be the ideal place to develop

the project.

5.1 PRODUCTION PROCESS DIAGRAM

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The level of productivity of the plant will be approximately 21%, that is to say that of each ton of

fresh potatoes will obtain 0.21 tons of potato flour, coo is talking about third quality potato that

has a smaller size and / or irregular form to that of the average and that possible has suffered from

some mechanical damage during the harvesting process, will be purchased at a value well below

the normal price, which guarantees the profitability of the project.

The process of supplying the raw material is carried out directly in the potato collection centers,

and it will seek to link the community.

5.2 MARKET STUDY

The demand of potatoes in Colombia per capita is approximately 61 kg per year, this value tends

to increase. The quantity of imported potatoes, especially that of processed potatoes, which is

mostly imported from countries of the European community increases every year, displacing local

producers. This project raises the possibility of competing in the processed potato market, which

in its majority is imported leaving the national production with almost no participation margin.

6. CONCLUSION

Although the problem of waste and loss of food generates enormous impacts on the entire

anthropological and environmental environment that are difficult to quantify; It seems that on the

one hand, society ignores the depth and magnitude of the repercussions that can be considered as

scandalous and alarming insofar as, in spite of the immense international efforts to combat poverty,

hunger, malnutrition, change climatic efforts are not effective enough to generate a significant

impact, and yet every day the challenges and problems facing humanity grow exponentially, while

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increasing the vulnerability of the world's most backward societies; Paradoxically, the level of

consumption and waste of resources of the most developed countries increases, generating an

increasingly large and difficult gap to close. However, any effort that seems minimal, that seeks

to mitigate this impact or that seeks to optimize natural resources available will be somehow

important locally and mark the difference as utopian as it may seem.

This project is a sample of the advantage implied by the transformation and use of non-marketable

agricultural surpluses that in non-developed nations reach significant values and that in the short

term are difficult to reduce given the complexity of socioeconomic conditions and access to

technology. and infrastructure whose intervention would be a long-term process. This type of

project transforms fresh food into another form that still retains its nutritional and organoleptic

properties, and also extends the useful life of food, stabilizes its value, and increases availability

for consumption.

CYBERGRAPHY

Barbosa, E. O. (2011). BDIGITAL. (U. N. COLOMBIA, Ed.) Obtenido de

http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/5242/1/edwinoswaldorojasbarbosa.2011.pdf

FAO. (diciembre de 2017). Pérdidas y Desperdicios de Alimentos. Obtenido de http://www.fao.org/3/a-

i7248s.pdf

FAO. (s.f.). Apoyo en materia de políticas y gobernanza. Obtenido de http://www.fao.org/policy-

support/policy-themes/food-loss-food-waste/es/

Portafolio. (4 de febrero de 2018). Portafolio. Obtenido de Producción de papa colombiana afectada poe
importaciones: https://www.portafolio.co/economia/produccion-de-papa-colombiana-
afectada-por-importaciones-513924

Responsable, C. (s.f.). Consumo responsable. Obtenido de

https://consumoresponsable.org/desperdicioalimentario/que-es

rural, M. d. (7 de 5 de 2018). Ministerio de Agricultura y desarrollo rural. Obtenido de

https://www.minagricultura.gov.co/noticias/Paginas/La%20producci%C3%B3n%20de%20papa%
20en%202018%20podr%C3%ADa%20llegar%202%20millones%20690%20mil%20toneladas.aspx

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