IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i15p8402-d602908.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Battling Food Losses and Waste in Saudi Arabia: Mobilizing Regional Efforts and Blending Indigenous Knowledge to Address Global Food Security Challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Suliman Ali Al-Khateeb

    (Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia
    College of Agricultural and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia)

  • Abid Hussain

    (Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia
    Institute of Research and Consultancy, King Faisal University, Hofuf 31982, Saudi Arabia)

  • Stefan Lange

    (Thünen Institute, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany)

  • Mohammad M. Almutari

    (Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia)

  • Felicitas Schneider

    (Thünen Institute, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany)

Abstract

Food Loss and Waste (FLW) that entail substantial economic, environmental, and social cost is of great concern for a country fulfilling > 80% of food demands through the import of agricultural commodities. The current study mainly aimed at bringing together a wide range of perspectives on FLW by multi-stakeholder engagement in order to enhance cooperation and network building with respect to sharing knowledge and experiences on FLW prevention activities along the entire food supply chain for a country located at the geographic frontier facing stubborn challenges of desertification, water scarcity, and harsh climatic conditions. These challenges are not only being addressed at the national level but have also been made the focus of multilateral activities in 2020 as part of the Saudi G20 Presidency. The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture under the umbrella of the G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) hosted a regional workshop on FLW in collaboration with the Thünen Institute, Germany, to raise awareness among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The present paper provides insights into the current status of FLW by revealing that, overall, 33.1% of the total available food in the Kingdom is lost and wasted during the entire food supply chain. Overall, the GCC countries witnessed higher percentages of food waste compared with food losses. Environmental conditions prevailing in the region necessitate the development of adequate and appropriate cold chain storage facilities for balanced distribution through cold storage transportation facilities along the food supply chain to minimize food losses. However, campaigns and activities to raise awareness with a view of changing attitudes towards reducing FLW by the adoption of good practices, promoting the concept of circular economy practices, and the establishment of food banks for surplus food redistribution are important to mitigate FLW in the Kingdom.

Suggested Citation

  • Suliman Ali Al-Khateeb & Abid Hussain & Stefan Lange & Mohammad M. Almutari & Felicitas Schneider, 2021. "Battling Food Losses and Waste in Saudi Arabia: Mobilizing Regional Efforts and Blending Indigenous Knowledge to Address Global Food Security Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8402-:d:602908
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8402/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/15/8402/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jaiganesh, V. & Nagarajan, P.K. & Geetha, A., 2014. "Solid state bio methane production from vegetable wastes Current state and perception," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 432-437.
    2. Sławomir Obidziński & Magdalena Dołżyńska & Małgorzata Kowczyk-Sadowy & Krzysztof Jadwisieńczak & Paweł Sobczak, 2019. "Densification and Fuel Properties of Onion Husks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-18, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Khalid Aljohani, 2023. "Optimizing the Distribution Network of a Bakery Facility: A Reduced Travelled Distance and Food-Waste Minimization Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-26, February.
    2. Mirza Barjees Baig & Bader Alhafi Alotaibi & Khodran Alzahrani & David Pearson & Ghedeir M. Alshammari & Ashfaq Ahmad Shah, 2022. "Food Waste in Saudi Arabia: Causes, Consequences, and Combating Measures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-19, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marcin Jewiarz & Marek Wróbel & Krzysztof Mudryk & Szymon Szufa, 2020. "Impact of the Drying Temperature and Grinding Technique on Biomass Grindability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-22, July.
    2. Grzegorz Maj & Paweł Krzaczek & Wojciech Gołębiowski & Tomasz Słowik & Joanna Szyszlak-Bargłowicz & Grzegorz Zając, 2022. "Energy Consumption and Quality of Pellets Made of Waste from Corn Grain Drying Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Sykorova, Veronika & Jezerska, Lucie & Sassmanova, Veronika & Honus, Stanislav & Peikertova, Pavlina & Kielar, Jan & Zidek, Martin, 2024. "Biomass pellets with organic binders - before and after torrefaction," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    4. Karol Kupryaniuk & Agnieszka Wójtowicz & Jakub Mazurkiewicz & Tomasz Słowik & Arkadiusz Matwijczuk, 2021. "The Influence of the Pressure-Thermal Agglomeration Methods of Corn Bran on Their Selected Physicochemical Properties and Biogas Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-26, October.
    5. Sławomir Obidziński & Michał Puchlik & Magdalena Dołżyńska, 2020. "Pelletization of Post-Harvest Tobacco Waste and Investigation of Flue Gas Emissions from Pellet Combustion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Jeslin Drusila Nesamalar, J. & Venkatesh, P. & Charles Raja, S., 2017. "The drive of renewable energy in Tamilnadu: Status, barriers and future prospect," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 115-124.
    7. Magdalena Dołżyńska & Sławomir Obidziński & Jolanta Piekut & Güray Yildiz, 2020. "The Utilization of Plum Stones for Pellet Production and Investigation of Post-Combustion Flue Gas Emissions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-19, October.
    8. Rodolfo Picchio & Francesco Latterini & Rachele Venanzi & Walter Stefanoni & Alessandro Suardi & Damiano Tocci & Luigi Pari, 2020. "Pellet Production from Woody and Non-Woody Feedstocks: A Review on Biomass Quality Evaluation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-20, June.
    9. Krzysztof Mudryk & Marcin Jewiarz & Marek Wróbel & Marcin Niemiec & Arkadiusz Dyjakon, 2021. "Evaluation of Urban Tree Leaf Biomass-Potential, Physico-Mechanical and Chemical Parameters of Raw Material and Solid Biofuel," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-14, February.
    10. Andrzej Rostocki & Hilal Unyay & Katarzyna Ławińska & Andrzej Obraniak, 2022. "Granulates Based on Bio and Industrial Waste and Biochar in a Sustainable Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-18, December.
    11. Lalisa Duguma & Esther Kamwilu & Peter A Minang & Judith Nzyoka & Kennedy Muthee, 2020. "Ecosystem-Based Approaches to Bioenergy and the Need for Regenerative Supply Options for Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-22, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:15:p:8402-:d:602908. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.