Quantification and use of food losses: the case of cantaloupe melon in a region of North-Central Mexico

Authors

  • José de Jesús Espinoza-Arellano Facultad de Contaduría y Administración-Unidad Torreón-Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila. Boulevard Revolución 153 oriente, Torreón, Coahuila. CP. 27000.
  • Adriana Montserrat Fabela-Hernández Facultad de Contaduría y Administración-Unidad Torreón-Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila. Boulevard Revolución 153 oriente, Torreón, Coahuila. CP. 27000.
  • Arturo Gaytán-Mascorro Unidad Laguna-Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro. Periférico Raúl López Sánchez km 1.5 y carretera a Santa Fe s/n, Torreón, Coahuila, México. CP. 27059.
  • Arturo Reyes González Campo Experimental La Laguna-INIFAP. Boulevard José Santos Valdés, 1200 poniente, Matamoros, Coahuila, México. CP. 27460.
  • Blanca Isabel Sánchez-Toledano Campo Experimental Zacatecas-INIFAP. AP núm. 18, Calera de Víctor Rosales, Zacatecas, México. CP. 98500

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29312/remexca.v14i2.2962

Keywords:

Comarca Lagunera, late sowings, sowing stages

Abstract

According to FAO, about one-third of global food production is lost or wasted. This waste reduces the availability of foods for the population, increases their prices and generates problems of environmental pollution. A common problem in developing countries is the scarcity of data on the quantity, causes and uses of food losses. In this work, the quantification, by sowing stages, of the losses of cantaloupe melon, their causes and uses in the links of production, packaging and transportation in a region of North-Central Mexico known as the Comarca Lagunera was carried out. This region is the largest producer of cantaloupe melon in Mexico, with an area of more than 4 565 ha and a production of 165 663 t. A structured questionnaire was applied in person to a statistical sample of 47 producers and eight packers. It was found that losses, both in production and packaging, vary according to the sowing stage, with greater losses in late sowings, followed by early and intermediate sowings. The main causes of losses are inadequate fruit size (small or very large), deformed, overripe, spotted and cracked. The product that is wasted in the orchard is destined to feed domestic animals or as fertilizer to the land; while the one that is discarded in the packaging centers is resold to small local intermediaries for commercialization and for the feeding of domestic animals.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Ávila, G. R. 2017. Gerente técnico del empaque de melón de la unión de productores de hortalizas del municipio de Viesca, Coahuila. Comunicación personal de 12 de julio de 2017.

Benítez, R. O. 2018. Losses and food waste in Latin America and the Caribbean. Roma, Italia: Food and Agriculture org. http://www.fao.org/americas/noticias/ver/en/c/239392/. FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Chen, C. R. and Chen, R. J. C. 2018. Using two government food waste recognition programs to understand current reducing food loss and waste activities in the US. Sustainability. 10(8):1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082760.

Del Angel, O. A.; Morales, L. E.; Castillo, R. I.; Luna, S. G.y Ramírez, M. A. 2019. Análisis de pérdidas y y desperdicios de alimentos producidos en el estado de Veracruz. In: Aguilar, G. (Coord.) Seguridad alimentaria y perdidas de alimentos en México. Ed. Instituto Politécnico Nacional- CONACYT-Miguel Ángel Porrúa, México, DF. 225 p.

Delgado, L.; Schuster, M. and Torero, M. 2021. Quantity and quality food losses across the value Chain: a comparative analysis. Food Policy 98(4):1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. foodpol.2020.101958.

European Commission. 2014. Executive summary of the impact assessment accompanying the document Impact assessment on measures addressing food waste to complete swd regarding the review of EU waste management targets. 1-11 pp. http://ec.europa.eu/ environment/archives/eussd/pdf/ia-summary.pdf.

Fabi, C. and English, A. 2018. SDG 12.3.1: global food loss index. 54 p. http://www.fao.org/3/ CA2640EN/ca2640en.pdf.

FAO. 2012. Pérdidas y desperdicio de alimentos en el mundo alcance, causas y prevención. Roma. http://www.fao.org/3/i2697s/i2697s.pdf. Estudio realizado para el congreso internacional SAVE FOOD! en Interpack 2011 Düsseldorf, Alemania.

FAO. 2016. Pérdidas y desperdicios de alimentos en América Latina y el Caribe. Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO). Boletín 4. 44 p. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5504s.pdf.

FAO. 2020. World food and agriculture statistical yearbook. ISBN: 978-92-5-133394-5. Rome, Italy. https://doi.org/10.4060/ cb1329en.

Figueroa, V. U.; Núñez, H. G.; Sánchez, J. I. y López, H. E. 2015. Regional nitrogen balance in the milk-forage production system in the Comarca Lagunera, Mexico. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Pec. 6(4):377-392. https://doi.org/10.22319/rmcp.v6i4.4099.

Gustavsson, J.; Cederberg, C. and Sonesson, U. 2011. Global food losses and food waste: ex-tent, causes and prevention; study conducted for the international congress save food! at interpack. Düsseldorf, Germany. Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations, Rome. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285683189-Global-Food-Losses-and-Food-Waste--Extent-Causes-and-Prevention.

Hanson, C.; Lipinski, B.; Robertson, K.; Dias, D.; Gavilan, I.; Gréverath, P.; Ritter, S.; Fonseca, J.; Otterdijk, R.; Dawe, A.; Berger, V.; Reddy, M.; Tran, B. and Leach, B. 2016. Guidance on FLW quantification methods: FLW protocol. Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations. 86 p.

INEGI. 2018. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. Encuesta Nacional Agropecuaria. ENA. (diapositivas de Power Point). https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/programas/ ena/2017/doc/ena2017-pres.pdf.

Kader, A. A. 2005. Increasing food availability by reducing postharvest losses of fresh produce. Acta Hortic. 682(3):2169-2176. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2005.682.296.

Kotykova, O. and Babych, M. 2019. Economic impact of food loss and waste. Agris on-line papers in economics and informatics. 11(3):55-71. https://doi.org/10.7160/aol.2019. 110306.

Lind, D. A.; Marchal, W. G. y Mason, R. D. 2004. Estadística para administración y economía. Ed. Alfaomega. 11va. Edición. México, DF. 830 p.

Orona-Castillo, I.; Espinoza-Arellano, J.; González-Cervantes, G.; Murillo-Amador, B.; García-Hernández, J. y Santamaría-César, J. 2006. Aspectos técnicos y socioeconómicos de la producción de nuez (Carya illinoensis Koch.) en la Comarca Lagunera, México. Agric. Téc. Méx. 32(3):295-301.

Parfitt, J.; Barthel, M. and MacNaughton, S. 2010. Food waste within food supply chains: Quantification and potential for change to 2050. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 365(1554):3065-3081. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010. 0126.

Ramírez-Gil, J. G.; López, J. H. and Henao-Rojas, J. C. 2020. Causes of hass avocado fruit rejection in preharvest, harvest, and packinghouse: economic losses and associated variables. Agronomy. 10(1):1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10010008.

Read, Q. D.; Brown, S.; Cuéllar, A. D.; Finn, S. M.; Gephart, J. A.; Marston, L. T.; Meyer, E.; Weitz, K. A. and Muth, M. K. 2020. Assessing the environmental impacts of halving food loss and waste along the food supply chain. Sci. Total Environ. 712(1):136-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136255.

Redlingshöfer, B.; Coudurier, B. and Georget, M. 2017. Quantifying food loss during primary production and processing in France. J. Clean Produc. 164(5):703-714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.06.173. SADER. 2021. Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural. Región Lagunera, Delegación en la Comarca Lagunera. Servicio de información estadística. SADER en la Comarca Lagunera.

SIAP. 2021. Sistema de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera. Servicio de Información Estadística Agroalimentaria y Pesquera. https://www.gob.mx/siap/. SIPRA. 2019. Sistema integral de Protección Contra Rayos. Diagnóstico sobre la pérdida y desperdicio de alimentos en Jalisco. https://transparencia.info.jalisco.gob.mx/sites/default/ files/3.DiagnosticoPerdidadDesperdiciosAlimentosJalisco.pdf.

Tamaro, D. 1977. Manual de horticultura. Ed. Gustavo-Gili, S. L. Madrid, España. 510 p.

Tiscornia, R. J. 1979. Hortalizas de fruto. Ed. Albatros, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 146 p.

UNDP. 2015. United Nations Development Program. Sustainable development goals. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/.

Wang, Y.; Xu, S. W.; Yu, W.; Abdul-Gafar, A.; Liu, X, J.; Bai, J. F.; Zhang, D.; Gao, L. W.; Cao, X. Ch.; and Liu, Y. 2016. Food packing: a case study of dining out in Beijing. J. Integr. Agric. 15(8):1924-1931. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2095. 3119(15):61282-5.

Downloads

Published

2023-03-22

How to Cite

Espinoza-Arellano, José de Jesús, Adriana Montserrat Fabela-Hernández, Arturo Gaytán-Mascorro, Arturo Reyes González, and Blanca Isabel Sánchez-Toledano. 2023. “Quantification and Use of Food Losses: The Case of Cantaloupe Melon in a Region of North-Central Mexico”. Revista Mexicana De Ciencias Agrícolas 14 (2). México, ME:159-70. https://doi.org/10.29312/remexca.v14i2.2962.

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2023)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Agrícolas

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who publish in Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Agrícolas accept the following conditions:

In accordance with copyright laws, Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Agrícolas recognizes and respects the authors’ moral right and ownership of property rights which will be transferred to the journal for dissemination in open access. Invariably, all the authors have to sign a letter of transfer of property rights and of originality of the article to Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP) [National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research]. The author(s) must pay a fee for the reception of articles before proceeding to editorial review.      

All the texts published by Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Agrícolas —with no exception— are distributed under a Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0), which allows third parties to use the publication as long as the work’s authorship and its first publication in this journal are mentioned.

The author(s) can enter into independent and additional contractual agreements for the nonexclusive distribution of the version of the article published in Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Agrícolas (for example include it into an institutional repository or publish it in a book) as long as it is clearly and explicitly indicated that the work was published for the first time in Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Agrícolas.

For all the above, the authors shall send the Letter-transfer of Property Rights for the first publication duly filled in and signed by the author(s). This form must be sent as a PDF file to: revista_atm@yahoo.com.mx; cienciasagricola@inifap.gob.mx; remexca2017@gmail.

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International license.

Most read articles by the same author(s)