1. Managing Food Security Through Waste Reduction
Prof. Habin Lee
Director, Centre for Sustainable Business Operations and Digital Governance
Brunel Business School

2. Safeguarding Food and Environment (SAFE-Q)
QNRF Grant: NPRP

3. What is Food Security?
The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “When all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”.
The following are the four key dimensions from the above definition:
Physical AVAILABILITY of food.
Economic and physical ACCESS to food.
Food UTILISATION.
STABILITY of the other three dimensions over time.
Source: World Health Organisation

4. Risk of Food Insecurity in Arab World

5. Perceived Food Security After Political Uprising in the Arab World
Source: Data from Gallup Analytics

6. Qatar’s Food Security at a Glance
Qatar has a total domestic production of just over 7%.
Imports over 90% of its food requirements.
Qatar is 100% dependent on desalinated water and is a huge challenge in term of improving its domestic production.
Biggest volumes of food come through Saudi Arabia and UAE.

7. Does Reducing Food Waste, Improving Food Security?
The most widely mentioned linkage between food wastage and food security is: food insecurity.
World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim
'The amount of food wasted and lost globally is shameful. Millions of people around the world go to bed hungry every night and yet millions of tons of food end up in trash cans or spoiled on the way to market. We have to tackle this problem in every country in order to improve food security and to end poverty.‘
World Bank Food Price Watch report (February 2014)

8. Safeguarding Food and Environment (SAFE-Q)
QNRF Grant: NPRP

9. Massive Amount of food Wasted in Qatar – and the challenges
Very challenging to produce 100% of Qatar’s food needs: hot weather, unfertile soil, and lack of rain. 
Lack of water - most urgent regional challenge: hinders expansion of agricultural production.
Global challenges remain: International development, competition, population growth, climate change, energy supply….
> 60 nations currently classified as “dry land” or “arid.”
Geopolitical risk may affect Food distribution: impact of closure on one or two borders (e.g. Saudi border and port)?
Qatar Statistic Authority (QSA): “(….) more than half of the municipal waste generated (…) contains discarded food.”
The Peninsula, 5th June 2013

10. Safeguarding Food and Environment in Qatar (SAFE-Q)
Focus on operational problems occurring during production, distribution and transportation.
Focus on storage, delivery and consumption of food.
Provide an estimate of the food waste occurring in distribution and consumption.
Establish the link between distribution frequencies and the food quality/safety/consumption using simulation models.
Allow policy-makers and practitioners to access food security and develop strategies to strengthen food supply chains.  
Seeks to support Qatari efforts to implement the Qatar National Vision 2030 focusing on the long-term sustainability of the food supply chain.

11. Safeguarding Food and Environment in Qatar (SAFE-Q)
Workshop 1: Food Production & Distribution in Qatar Workshop 2: Food Consumption in Qatar

12. Food production and supply in Qatar
“How can food production and supply be sustained in Qatar whilst reducing food waste?”
In your groups, identify the TOP 20 factors which affect / related to the statement above (one factor per post-it note)
Factor 1
Factor 2
Factor 3
Factor 20 ……

13. Food production and supply in Qatar
“How can food production and supply be sustained in Qatar whilst reducing food waste?”
From this list, PRIORITISE and NUMBER the TOP 10
Write the number in the
top right hand corner
Factor 15 
Factor 6 
Factor 12 
Factor 8  ……

14. Fuzzy Cognitive Map approach to cause-effect modeling of food waste
Risk based approach to
food handling
Food quality management
Sharing best practices
Education and training in retailers
Standardised food regulations
Collaboration between food
authorities, suppliers and retailers
Food chain traceability
Food market competition
Demand planning throughout
the food supply chain
One unified food authority
Investment on local production
Easy, open, low cost food
market entry
Bureaucracy in food authority
Investment in food logistics infrastructure

15. Simulation for policy impact analysis
Measuring impact of new policies:
Reducing bureaucracy in food authority (F9)
Restructuring of government organizations for unified authority (F14)
Tightening food import control (F2)
Legislating mandatory training for food supply chain staffs (F4)
Food waste from medium to low

16. Findings from the impact analysis
The impact of different combination of organizational and market policy options on food waste was measured in fuzzy terms in Qatari food supply chain context
Suggested organizational policy options
Reduced bureaucracy and one unified food authority
Education and training (food supply chain staffs)
Suggested market policy options
Reduced time to market
Linkage to charities
Reduced food market competition

17. Thank you