The global food waste that is witnessed in Moldova as well comes to over 1.3 billion tonnes a year. In Moldova, the legislative and policy framework on food waste is not developed. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is ready to cooperate with the responsible state institutions is designing a relevant policy document, Tudor Robu, FAO Assistant Presentative in Moldova, stated in an event centering on the issue, IPN reports.

In Moldova, the largest part of food is wasted at the production – sale stage and less at the consumption stage. According to Tudor Robu, to diminish food waste in the production – sale process, the harvesting and keeping practices should be improved. The cold storage facilities can be a solution.

FAO will make effort to help the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment to work out a plan of action for diminishing food waste. “We would like an initiative to exist at government level. FAO is ready to support the designing of such a document,” stated Tudor Robu.

FAO is implementing a regional project to reduce food waste. Four countries, among which is Moldova, are its beneficiaries, but the project is too small to meet the needs of each state apart. FAO suggested that each country should identity their needs and come up with broader initiatives.

In the framework of the project, the barriers and problems that lead to food waste were identified last October. A seminar where FAO experts will present the priorities and discuss with representatives of the responsible institutions will be held in June. At the end of this year, there will be formulated strategic recommendations concerning food waste and transited to the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment.