UN ag agency teams up with global wholesale markets

Recognizing the growing challenge of feeding city dwellers, who will become the world’s majority by…

Recognizing the growing challenge of feeding city dwellers, who will become the world’s majority by 2050, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Union of Wholesale Markets today signed a partnership aimed at reaching the urban poor and reducing food waste estimated at 1.3 billion tonnes every year.

“More efficient wholesale markets, and overall urban market outlets, can result in more affordable means to reach the city poor with healthy food,” Eugenia Serova, head of FAO’s Agro-Industry Division said in a press release issued today in Budapest, Hungary, where the partnership agreement was being signed.

“If close to 90 per cent of the expected increase in the global urban population in the next two decades will take place in cities in Africa and Asia, it makes much sense to build solid knowledge on how to strengthen urban market systems,” according to Ms. Serova.

FAO said the partnership with the wholesalers, who function as brokers who sell agricultural goods purchased directly from producers in bulk to businesses and resellers, is aimed to promote sustainability and inclusiveness in the wholesale sector, including developing “best practices” for reducing food waste.