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STORY: FAO / THAILAND REDUCING FOOD WASTE
TRT: 4:29
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT FAO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: THAI / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: PLEASE CHECK SHOTLIST FOR DETAILS
20 DECEMBER 2022, SAKON NAKHON PROVINCE, THAILAND
1. Areal shot, rural area in Sakon Nakhon province
2. Tilt down, solar dome drier
3. Wide shot, worker moving bags of rice
4. Med shot, machine processing rice
5. Wide shot, rice expelled from a pipe
6. Wide shot, worker unloading grain
7. Med shot, grain in machine’s container
8. Wide shot, Natakarn Dakawong using a moisture meter
9. Med shot, workers holding baskets of rice
10. Close up, grain processing
11. Wide shot, workers sorting rice
12. Close up, worker sorting red rice
13. Med shot, worker filling a package of rice
14. Close up, rice packages placed in a plastic crate
15. Wide shot, Natakarn Dakawong placing baskets with rice in a steamer
16. Close up, steamed rice
17. Med shot, workers spreading rice grains out
18. Close up, rice being spread out
19. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Natakarn Dakawong, President of Ban Lao Community Regeneration:
“If we dried the rice too little, the rice would have mould. If we dried the rice too long, the rice would be broken during the milling process. We would get less rice as a result.”
20. Areal shot, solar dome drier
21. Wide shot, workers empty baskets of rice
22. Med shot, Natakarn Dakawong talking with Dr Nattapol Tangsuphoom
23. Close up, digital thermometer used to control the steaming process
24. Close up, rice being placed in a circular container
25. Close up, moisture meter display
26. Med shot, worker using a vacuum sealer machine
27. Med shot, rice packages in a crate
28. Med shot, Natakarn Dakawong oversees weighing of the rice
29. Close up, weighing rice
30. Wide shot, Natakarn Dakawong and Duangta Dakawong talking with Thai experts
31. Med shot, red jasmine rice packages
32. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Duangta Dakawong, Vice President of the Ban Lao Community Regeneration:
“Since this project came, they have helped us to acknowledge the loss and provide the tools for us to control the production. They have helped us increase the profits.”
26-29 APRIL 2022, PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN PROVINCE, THAILAND
33. Close up, worker wrapping food
34. Med shot, woman selling shrimp in a seafood market
35. Med shot, fishmonger cutting fish
36. Med shot, women picking fish in a market
20 DECEMBER 2022, SAKON NAKHON PROVINCE, THAILAND
37. Aerial shot, rural area
38. Aerial shot, crop fields
4 AUGUST 2023, ROME, ITALY
39. Wide shot, FAO headquarters in Rome
12 SEPTEMBER 2023, ROME, ITALY
40. Med shot, Rosa Rolle in her office
41. Med shot, Rosa Rolle working with computer
42. SOUNDBITE (English) Rosa Rolle, Senior Officer and Team Leader, Food Loss and Waste, Food and Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“Processors did not have access to simple items of equipment for managing quality, simple things like managing temperature and time. And these are some of the simple things that our project introduced that allowed, together with good practice, allowed the producers, the processors, to actually conform to the Thai standards. It helped them to reduce food loss and waste, improve the quality of their products, and hopefully we will see the monetary returns coming to them as a result.”
5 NOVEMBER 2017, AYEYAWADDY REGION, MYANMAR
43. Wide shot, farmer standing over a truck
44. Med shot, food loss from a bag of grain
6 JULY 2018, CAIRO, EGYPT
45. Med shot, food waste in a restaurant
19-21 AUGUST 2022, DHAKA, BANGLADESH
46. Wide shot, food wasted and trash in Kawran Bazar
12 SEPTEMBER 2023, ROME, ITALY
47. SOUNDBITE (English) Rosa Rolle, Senior Officer and Team Leader, Food Loss and Waste, Food and Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“Food loss and waste also affect the food security of millions across the globe by actually reducing availability and access to food. It also has impacts on the sustainability of our food systems, because, as it degrades in landfills, and also as food moves across the supply chain, it generates greenhouse gases.”
20 DECEMBER 2022, SAKON NAKHON PROVINCE, THAILAND
48. Wide shot, workers spreading rice grains out
49. Close up, worker spreading grain out
JULY 2017, ARGHAKHANI DISTRICT, NEPAL
50. Med shot, green tomatoes and pickers
51. Med shot, woman cooking food
2016, ROME, ITALY
52. Med shot, fruits wasted in a market
53. Med shot, vegetables wasted in a market
54. Med shot, fruits wasted and plastic crates
55. Close up, wasted tomatoes
56. Close up, wasted oranges
Cutting food loss and waste while increasing income — this has proven possible in Thailand, thanks to some simple technical innovations in the processing of germinated brown rice.
A project implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has supported Thai micro-, small- and medium-sized processing entreprises (MSMEs) to measure and reduce food losses in their operations. The FAO-led project also supervised the introduction of items of equipment that helped the entreprises to cut down food loss and waste.
Food loss refers to the loss in quantity or quality of food after harvest and before reaching retail; food waste is the decrease in the quantity or quality of food resulting from decisions and actions by retailers, food services, and consumers.
The community-run Ban Lao Farmers Wives Cooperative processes and distributes germinated brown rice in northeastern Thailand’s Sakon Nakhon Province. The processing of this specialty rice, highly appreciated for its vitamins, is a delicate business. Natakarn Dakawong, President and worker of the Brown Rice Ban Lao Community Regeneration, explained that it requires soaking and fermentation or germination overnight before the grain is steamed and then dried.
SOUNDBITE (Thai), Natakarn Dakawong, President of Ban Lao Community Regeneration, “If we dried the rice too little, the rice would have mould. If we dried the rice too long, the rice would be broken during the milling process. We would get less rice as a result.”
The FAO-led project helped the company identify the critical loss points in processing and distribution, as well as the underlying causes of food waste in retail. Then, processors were trained to measure the levels of loss, and to apply simple technology introduced by the project, including digital thermometers to monitor steaming and drying operations, a moisture meter to assure proper drying of the grains, and a packaging sealer. With improved quality and a reduction in loss, the Ban Lao company now saves 450 kilograms of rice on a monthly basis, about a third of its production (1.500 kilograms per month).
Duangta Dakawong, Vice President of the Ban Lao Community Regeneration, said that these improvements positively impacted the company’s revenue.
SOUNDBITE (Thai) Duangta Dakawong, Vice President of the Ban Lao Community Regeneration, “Since this project came, they have helped us to acknowledge the loss and provide the tools for us to control the production. They have helped us increase the profits.”
Micro, small, and medium entreprises account for approximately 91 percent of food processing operations in Thailand. However, reducing food loss and waste is not a high priority for many of them.
The project has shown great potential to tackle this issue impacting the environment. In total, 25 Thai companies benefited from the project and reduced food loss and waste. FAO is now finalizing a multi-lingual technical manual to help companies in other countries achieve similar results.
Rosa Rolle, Senior Officer and Team Leader, Food Loss and Waste of the FAO Food and Nutrition Division, explained that technology was crucial to reducing food loss and waste.
SOUNDBITE (English) Rosa Rolle, Senior Officer and Team Leader, Food Loss and Waste of the FAO Food and Nutrition Division, “Processors did not have access to simple items of equipment for managing quality, simple things like managing temperature and time. And these are some of the simple things that our project introduced that allowed, together with good practice, allowed the producers, the processors, to actually conform to the Thai standards. It helped them to reduce food loss and waste, improve the quality of their products, and hopefully we will see the monetary returns coming to them as a result.”
Globally, 13 percent of food is lost, while another 17 percent is wasted. Rolle highlighted that this problem has implications for hunger, food security, nutrition, and climate change.
SOUNDBITE (English) Rosa Rolle, Senior Officer and Team Leader, Food Loss and Waste of the FAO Food and Nutrition Division, “Food loss and waste also affect the food security of millions across the globe by actually reducing availability and access to food. It also has impacts on the sustainability of our [agri]food systems, because, as [food] it degrades in landfills, and also as food moves across the supply chain, it generates greenhouse gases.”
The project was formulated and supervised by FAO, funded by the Government of Japan, and implemented in collaboration with the Thai Government and Mahidol University.
Reducing food loss and waste plays an important role in transforming agrifood systems. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for halving per-capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reducing food losses along production and supply chains.
