I grew up in a small farm in eastern Kenya. My family planted various crops, hoping to boost our income. On one occasion, an extension agent brought us some seeds in a sophisticated package. I later learnt from my mother that they were watermelon seeds.

“Plant these; they will make you rich,” the extension agent said. But when the harvest was ready and we reached out to the agent, he told us there was no market. We also could not sell the watermelon in the village – this was a new fruit and many had not acquired its taste.

Watermelon became our breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a delicacy for our livestock.

As we began implementing the YieldWise Initiative, the watermelon experience continued to reverberate. It reminded me that farmers lose their harvest for many reasons: lack of markets, inadequate storage, transportation or available processing equipment, and limited access to financing, among others.

Wasted food represents wasted resources. Almost 17% of our freshwater supply goes to producing food that is later thrown away. As trash, it takes up 20% of our landfills, where it emits tons of methane, a greenhouse gas 86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Given the projected 2 billion global population increase by 2050, we critically need to minimize this loss.

The YieldWise initiative began in 2016. Over the years, we developed training materials, research on technologies, communication content including videos and radio programs, and broader lessons in post-harvest management. We integrated these resources to develop the Post Harvest Management ToolKit as a resource guide for researchers, scholars and practitioners who work directly with farmers.

Addressing food loss requires transforming the whole food system. However, accessing markets remains an important solution in reducing post-harvest loss. The toolkit emphasizes this and includes informal markets and cottage industries. Farmers who have access to markets can invest their returns in technologies.

Read the full article about the YieldWise initiative by Betty Kibaara, Amos Kisilu, and Kagwiria Koome at The Rockefeller Foundation.