MILAN: Wrong harvest timings, bad packing and poor transport and storage facilities cause up to 50 per cent post-harvest losses in developing countries, aggravating hunger, the United Nations’ food agency said on Monday.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has estimated that the number of hungry people has hit 1.02 billion this year and the world should boost food output by 70 per cent to feed a projected 9.1 billion population by 2050. Last year the world’s hungry numbered 963 million.

Food crop losses, ranging from 15 per cent to 50 per cent of what is produced in developing countries remove supply from the market and drive up food prices, the FAO said in a statement stressing the need for training and technology improvements.

For example, a FAO-backed project in Afghanistan funded largely by Germany to provide metallic hermetically sealed silos to farmers has helped to cut post-harvest losses quickly to 1-2 per cent from 15-20 per cent and boosted farmers’ incomes.

Investments are needed to train farmers and others involved along the food chain to handle harvested food properly and improve its quality to make products from the developing world more competitive on the world markets, the FAO said.

FAO has said the world needs to invest $83 billion a year in agriculture in developing countries to stamp out hunger by 2050.— Reuters