Very interesting! I am curious as to whether there are any estimates of how much these losses could be reduced quickly, e.g. within a year for a catastrophe.
I’m glad you included cost effectiveness estimates.
representing a return on investment of 1:11, compared to 1:32 for generic agricultural research investments.
These appear to be cost to benefit ratios, rather than ROI, which is percent return per year. With cost to benefit ratios, listing the discount rate would be helpful.
Good point, I have fixed it to now refer to cost-benefit ratios. They used a 5% discount rate, though they found similar results under 3% and 10%.
I did not come across any research on the rapid reduction of food losses. Market mechanisms could play a significant role here I imagine, as if the price of food quadrupled after a catastrophe impacting food-production, all actors would be far more motivated to reduce wastage even when it requires extra labour or money. If a food crisis is looming, governments would also increase their focus on maximising production and minimising wastage, which could also bring significant resources to bear on the problem. So I think post-harvest losses would be markedly reduced rapidly. But sadly no quantification or proper research on this that I am aware of.
Very interesting! I am curious as to whether there are any estimates of how much these losses could be reduced quickly, e.g. within a year for a catastrophe.
I’m glad you included cost effectiveness estimates.
These appear to be cost to benefit ratios, rather than ROI, which is percent return per year. With cost to benefit ratios, listing the discount rate would be helpful.
Good point, I have fixed it to now refer to cost-benefit ratios. They used a 5% discount rate, though they found similar results under 3% and 10%.
I did not come across any research on the rapid reduction of food losses. Market mechanisms could play a significant role here I imagine, as if the price of food quadrupled after a catastrophe impacting food-production, all actors would be far more motivated to reduce wastage even when it requires extra labour or money. If a food crisis is looming, governments would also increase their focus on maximising production and minimising wastage, which could also bring significant resources to bear on the problem. So I think post-harvest losses would be markedly reduced rapidly. But sadly no quantification or proper research on this that I am aware of.