Packaging key to curbing food insecurity arising from wastage

Packaging has been a heated talking point in Kenya lately. Triggered by the ban on production and use of plastic carrier bags, conversation focused more on the negative impacts of packaging, particularly on the environment. However, little attention has been paid to the significant benefits that packaging can potentially deliver in the socio-economic development of a country. This is besides the many employment opportunities that it has created across the value chain – from manufacturing and distribution to sale and recycling of plastic packaging material. 

Packaging has a critical role in curbing food wastage, which remains a major obstacle in efforts towards attaining food security. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 815 million people in the world – equivalent of 11 per cent of the global population -- go hungry and are undernourished. In Kenya, the World Food Programme’s latest statistics indicate that 3.4 million people are acutely food insecure at the moment.