World Food Day: Let’s Ensure Food Is Available At All Times

By: Bagbara Tanko Head, Public Relations Ministry of Food and Agriculture

News Commentary On The Relevance Of World Food Day

Ghana is happy to join more than 150 countries across the world to observe what is arguably the most important event on the calendar of the United Nations. World Food Day, as we do know, seeks to promote awareness and trigger action towards the elimination of hunger, by calling global attention to ensure food security and nutritious diets for all. Since the inception of this annual event, the focus of the celebrations has been to highlight the fact that food is a basic and fundamental human right that ought to be respected and enjoyed by everyone regardless of age, sex and status. To achieve the laudable objectives of the celebration, it is important to remind ourselves of the dire consequences of pervasive hunger across the world if no concrete and sustained action is taken by the comity of Nations. The inescapable consequences, as experience has shown, will include a high rate of mortality of populations across the world, stunted growth, poor health, low productivity, high incidence of poverty and general under-development. Indeed we need to have a full appreciation of the threat and challenges of combating hunger globally if the desired impact is to be made on the social economic lives of people threatened by hunger. In fact, survival of humanity depends largely on good nutrition. Ghana has made significant strides in reducing hunger since the country experienced the worst drought in 1982/83. The 2020 Global Hunger Index by IFPRI classifies Ghana as “moderate” in terms of severity of hunger. Although this is encouraging, the government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure food security.  The problem in Ghana is not the availability of food. It is mainly lifestyle choices and lack of knowledge about what constitutes nutritious food. Clearly, this calls for strategic action expressed through a multi-sectoral approach which will bring together institutions such as the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education and Local Government among others to tackle the issue through a concerted effort. A general public awareness on a sustained basis is crucial to achieving the benefits of nutritious foods for all age groups. Indeed, dividends from the Government intervention, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) campaign attest to this assertion. Since the inception of the programme in 2017, yields of staple food crops have significantly increased. This was possible because of the government’s intervention in the form of the distribution of subsidized fertilizers and improved seeds under pinned by effective extension delivery. In fact, the success story of PFJ, has led to the introduction and the implementation of the Rearing for Food and Jobs Planting for Export and Rural Development modules and mechanization which have the objective of creating opportunities for farmers and interested persons to invest in Agriculture. To address the problem of post-harvest losses, the government continues to rehabilitate and construct over 80 warehouses across the country, each with a capacity of 1000 MT. The Ministry through the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority is continuing with the construction and rehabilitation of dams to guarantee the availability of water for farmers all year round. The concept of Greenhouse Villages was wholly embraced because of its potential benefits to actors along the vegetable value chain and the economy as a whole. All these interventions have combined to ensure that the levels of food crop production currently in Ghana are unmatched in sub–Saharan Africa. Remember, our actions are our future. It is important to emphasize that we all have a role to play in achieving zero hunger and this largely depends on our individual and collective action. Farmers, Agribusinesses and policy makers have to ensure that food is available and traditional practices and systems are upheld and passed on successfully to make healthy diets available. Everyone can contribute to solving the various food crises in the world by participating in this year’s Observance.

By: Bagbara Tanko, Head, Public Relations Ministry of Food and Agriculture.