Food inflation: How Nigeria can use technology to address food waste -Tunde Kara

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The Nigerian Government is urged to enhance storage and transport infrastructure, collaborate with food-tech firms to drive evidence-based policy choices using real-time data and foster the adoption of sustainable approaches in food production, distribution, and waste management among businesses.

Tunde Kara, CEO and Co-founder of Vendease, a food-tech company facilitating procurement and business management for food supply chain enterprises, shared these insights in an exclusive interview with Nairametrics.

Food inflation and Food waste

Nigerians are grappling with inflationary pressures related to the removal of fuel subsidy, which has seen the price of goods and services increase as energy prices increased.

It was reported recently that  prices of staple foods consumed every day by Nigerians increased from as low as 8% to as high as 12% on a month-to-month basis and from June 2022 to June 2023, as Nigerians paid on average a 30% increase in food prices over the 12-month period.

Nigeria’s high food inflation is exacerbated by her food waste problem, a report released by the United Nations in 2021 revealed that food wastage in Nigeria per citizen is the highest in Africa(189KG), citing that Nigerian food waste amounts to a total of 37.9 million tons of food every 12 months.

How to address this issue

Kara, whose platform, VendEase, has 4,000 customers in Nigeria and Ghana, says it has saved businesses more than $10 million in procurement costs and over 35,000 man-hours preventing approximately $1.1 million worth of food from going to waste due to stocking and storage issues tells Nairametrics that government must address Nigeria’s food waste issue by working with stakeholders to address storage and improved agriculture policies through food-tech, he said:

“Addressing food waste in Nigeria requires a comprehensive and collaborative approach involving the government, private sector, civil society, and individuals.

“To tackle this issue, the government must Improve storage and transportation infrastructure for perishable goods to reduce post-harvest losses and ensure more food reaches consumers and less food gets wasted.
“Partner with food-tech companies to enable the government to make informed policy decisions based on real-time data and analytics. 
“Encourage businesses to adopt sustainable practices in food production, distribution, and waste reduction by offering incentives, tax breaks, or grants to motivate positive change and promote environmentally responsible practices.
“Support food-tech companies that develop innovative solutions to reduce food waste. Financial incentives, grants, or access to resources for research and development can accelerate the implementation of effective food waste reduction technologies.

Motivation for battling food waste

Tunde Kara told Nairametrics that he and his co-founders decided to create a solution to tackle procurement and supply issues starting with Nigeria’s fragmented food sector after their favourite restaurant was closed down during the 202 Covid pandemic, he added:

“In 2020, one of our favourite restaurants, like many others in the country, faced an unfortunate closure due to supply problems.
“We decided to create a solution to tackle procurement and supply issues starting with Nigeria’s fragmented food sector. 
“Before founding Vendease, I had gathered a wealth of experience in business development and growth strategies across diverse markets.

He added he and his co-founders drew from their collective knowledge and experience to build technology-driven tools and services to help restaurants grow by improving the journey of food from farm to table, saying:

“To date, we have facilitated the movement of over 1,000,000 metric tonnes of food and prevented approximately $1.1 million worth of food from going to waste due to stocking and storage issues
“We automate Africa’s food supply on three fronts: procurement, payments, and real-time data exchange.
“We help our valued customers prevent food waste, save time and optimize their business operations to focus on delivering value to their customers. As we scale, we are putting all our tech into a comprehensive one-stop suite of apps that seamlessly.”