APHLIS (African Postharvest Losses
Information System)
www.aphlis.net
Importance of PHLs
PHLs are a source of food insecurity and we
need to know about them so that  Loss reduction interventions are directed at the most
BUT: to date PHL corrections have been affected areas (geographically)
 Loss
reduction
interventions
directed
at the
most

mostly
guesstimates
(usuallyare
between
1 and
20%)
in the
chain
those
that would
 affected
relativelylinks
difficult
to post
traceharvest
the logic
and or
info
sources
cost themselves
effective to address
 be
themost
sources
may not be very reliable
 Cereal
supply estimates
can isbenot
calculated
more reliably
the derivation
of the figures
transparent
from production estimates (cereal supply = production –
PHLs)
APHLIS - a unique service
APHLIS generates estimates of postharvest weight losses
for cereals in East and Southern Africa and is
 Based on a network of local experts who submit
data and verify loss estimates
 Built on a complete survey of the literature on PHLs
APHLIS provides ……
 Loss estimates for main cereals, by country and by
province, for different climate zones and farm scales
 A display of the data used to derive losses so the
system is fully transparent, and
 The opportunity to add better loss data so that loss
estimation can improve over time
APHLIS – the System in a nutshell
PHL database
Network of local experts
PHL calculator
Download
Data
tables
Agric. data
PHL
tables
PHLs by crop
GIS maps of
PHLs etc country and province
Calculator
spreadsheet
Final PHL estimates displayed on maps
Maize
Sorghum
Wheat
Visions (Bonn workshop August 2010)
 Keep loss estimates independent and owned by countries
 Support development of Community of practice, close links
with:
 PHL reduction projects
 PHL research community
 Add information on qualitative losses
 Take up case studies on specific loss figures and for a
number of pilot countries. Verify loss estimates.
 Include West and Central Africa in the system
 Update loss values regularly
New project started in January 2012
IMPROVING QUALITATIVE AND QUANITATIVE POST
HARVEST LOSSES ESTIMATES IN SUB-SAHARAN
AFRICA
The main objectives of the project are to:
1.improve the quantitative loss estimation of the APHLIS
system
2. extend the system to 17 countries in Western and Central
Africa
3. address qualitative post harvest losses
Tasks
1. Operating the APHLIS information system and website;
2. Complete review of existing information on qualitative grain
losses;
3. Development of a manual for improving quantitative
postharvest losses data collection and standardizing
assessment methods at country level;
4. Extension and update of the APHLIS:
a) Geographic extension to the whole Sub-Saharan Africa, including West and
Central Africa regions;
b) Updating of the existing system for Eastern and Southern Africa.
5. National case studies on verification of current post harvest
losses estimates
Nairobi Workshop objectives:
1. To review the functionalities of the current systems and raise
awareness in the region;
2. To strengthen the existing network and define activities and
work-plan for network members;
3. To present first results and improvements of the system
since January 2012
4. To involve new partners eg. ICIPE, FAO Countrystat,
RATIN…
Advisory Board
An Advisory board has been formed during the project kick off
meeting in February to:
1. ensure close coordination with other initiatives on post
harvest losses estimation and reduction 2012,
2.to provide recommendations and to support the technical
monitoring.
Current members:
•UN: FAO (STATS, GIEWS, AGS), WFP
•
FARA
•
CILSS
•
World Bank
•
European Commission: DEVCO
•….