Around 35 percent of food is lost between harvest and distribution across the Asia-Pacific region, depriving millions of nutrition, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Tuesday.

Poor production planning, a lack of storage, weak transport systems, crop disease and parasites cause some 30 percent of cereals and 42 percent of fruit and vegetables to be lost before reaching consumers, the FAO said in Bangkok.

"More effort is needed to raise global awareness of the critical issue of food losses and particularly post-harvest losses, as well as food waste, which is increasing," said Hiroyuki Konuma, the FAO's assistant director for the Asia-Pacific.

"About 35 percent on average is lost or wasted after harvest", he said, adding that last year the Asia-Pacific "was home to 536 million hungry people."

AFP