Farmers in Germany carry out their farming activities as a business unlike in Uganda commercial farming is new initiative.

Most small scale farmers in Uganda have of recent began adopting the idea of conducing farming as business as well as for feeding their families.

The case in Germany is slightly different since most farmers are engaged in farming as a large scale business.

This is done with emphasis to provide food security not only in Germany but the entire Europe while minimising food wastage.

Food waste does not only occur in EU countries but the entire world including in Uganda because this is prevalent in the agricultural value chain in Uganda where there is a lot of food waste right from harvesting all through to the consumer level.

Background

Experts note that since most farmers engage in various agricultural activities on large scale, sometimes they do not offset all the produce leading to food wastage.

In Germany it is estimated that 11 million tons of food is wasted per year and this occurs throughout the supply chain from the farm gate to the consumer.

Although research indicates that food waste is mainly generated at consumer level but retailors play a pivotal role between producers and consumers.

However the government of Germany recently came up with a strategy and policy governing food waste and their target is by 2030 the volume of food waste must be reduced to half.

As such in a recent visit to Berlin, Sciencedigest25 had the opportunity to interact with experts in Universities and farmers federations and below are the details.

How experts are tackling global food security

Professor Rainer Langosch from Neubrandenburg University of Applied Science explained that farmers in Germany are faced with price fluctuations the reason there is food waste occurrences in the country.

In Germany one farmers is capable of feeding 140 people per year but sometimes what they produce plus exports made goes past the required ratio of persons.

Yet elsewhere in the world out of the over 7 billion people worldwide over 800 million are not well fed.

According to Prof Rainer Germans contribution in tackling these challenge is done using concerted efforts including research Institutes, ministry of food and agriculture as well as Universities whose experts are deeply engaged in research to identify solutions to food wastage and other agricultural challenges.

In his University there are students pursuing agricultural courses in the faculty of agriculture and they coordinate with experts from the faculty of applied science.

At the end of it all they go out to provide services to farmers in terms of extension service including expertise in agribusiness and food processing among others.

The farming system and statistical data in Germany

Prof Rainer explained that in 1990 when Germany was reunited to become the Federal Republic of Germany that is when the farming activity began booming.

A number of Germans began embracing farming of various types including farming crops such as wheat, barley, canola, sugar beet and fruits such as apples as well as cattle rearing on large scale.

As of now the average farmer owns between 300 and 600 hectares of land but a good number of them go beyond 2000 hectares or more especially in Eastern German bordering Poland.

However the challenge is that it is too expensive the required technology because farmers purchase equipment such as computerized tractors, weeders and combined harvesters expensively.

Giving the statistics he notes that in Germany about 60 billion euros is eared annually in agriculture initiatives and about 305 billion Euros come from consumer production rate in processed foods or those sold direct in open markets.

Generally in Europe farm land is owned through traditional inheritance which is not the case in the case in the USA the reason farmers are so much recognized in the case of the latter.

How the farmers’ Federation operates

The head of department at the Federal Germany Farmers Association Johann Reinhofer explaining how their federation works notes that his association helps farmers who are practicing both conventional and organic farming by giving them incentives as motivational tool.

There are 16 major farmer Associations across the country with 2,600 members representing several opinions.

As a member of the board he notes that most of the work he does at policy level where his team lobbies governments in European Union to ensure agricultural and trade policies favour farmers

He contends that usually they ask farmers to follow regulations regarding pesticide use which must be at reduced level because too much of it tends to cause pollution including in water and the atmosphere.

The team is lobbying EU governments to hear the voice of the farmers because they provide food security to the people.

They also lobby farmers companies that are responsible for giving certification for farmers to use in the farming value chain by not frustrating them.

In terms of giving farmers subsidies they ensure for instance if government gives farmers such a subsidies in fertilizer on credit, the seller will get paid from the subsidy.

Johann contends that it is better to run small farms than large scale farms because the cost will be cheaper.

Giving the example with his family tree farm, he said it has been operational from the 15^th century to date because the family is interested in farming.

But with the sinking demand for milk across EU, most farmers are abandoning farming which he said is a challenge in dairy farming.

Crowning up the challenge of food waste, he notes that it is as a result of massive production and behavior change where the generation tends not to think about people who are starving in other parts of world.

However the trend has to change because most EU countries are putting in strategies and policies to curb food wastage not on in Germany but in all EU countries and elsewhere.