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Why food loss and waste technologies scale or fail. The Role of Women in building circular food systems

  • Publication | 2026
Global Food and Nutrition Security

This CARE study draws on evidence from 21 countries and more than 25 projects to argue that the failure of food loss and waste (FLW) solutions to scale is not a technology gap but a design gap. Solar dryers, hermetic bags, cold chains and small-scale processing equipment already work. Pilots stall. One reason is that they ignore the realities of women, who carry up to 50 percent of post-harvest processing and around 40 percent of agricultural labour, yet remain largely invisible in data, finance and product design. Moving beyond production-focused, gender-blind approaches, the authors set out four conditions for scale: reducing women's unpaid labour, supporting viable women-led enterprises, securing reliable buyers, and unlocking finance fit for smallholders. The central recommendation is to invest in the enabling systems that surround the technology and to incorporate women's time as a core design variable.

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Authors
DeLong Heather, Vaughan Ann, Lagisetti Akshada
Publisher
CARE Climate Justice Center (CJC)
Geographic coverageGlobal
Originally published

27 May 2026

Knowledge service | MetadataGlobal Food and Nutrition Security | Sustainable Food SystemsGender Equality and Food systems | Gender-transformative approachParticipation of womenWomens' empowerment
Digital Europa Thesaurus (DET)gender-sensitive aidgender equality
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