By Samuel Ayammah
As part of activities to commemorate World Food Day, Food For All Africa, a non-profit organisation and its partners, have supplied 1,200 boxes of food items to some aged, vulnerable, malnourished people and persons with disability in the Pru East District of the Bono East Region.
It formed part of Food For All Africa’s 100 million meal distribution programme in 30 countries in Africa, including Ghana.
Each food relief box had rice, oil, gari, tinned tomatoes, tinned mackerel, corned beef, among others. The target is about four vulnerable people per household of the 1,200 beneficiaries selected from the various communities in the Pru East District.
Founder and Executive Director for Food For All Africa, Chef Elijah Amoo Addo, said approximately 3.2 million tons of food is either lost or wasted along the supply chain in Ghana, costing about seven hundred and sixty-two point 32 billion Ghana cedis, while half of the population is moderately or severely food insecure.
He said the goal of FFAA is to create effective programs addressing hunger issues by creating partnerships with those who care about the underprivileged and hungry people in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa.
Chef Amoo Addo said to ensure that confusion regarding date labels does not result in disposing food that is safe for consumption, the government should standardise and clarify date labels and require that manufacturers or retailers use only one or two prescribed labels.
“To offset costs of businesses, incur when donating food, Ghanaian leaders could amend the VAT Act to categorise the donations for all food items as “zero-rated” goods and develop tax guidance for food donors and food recovery organisations that clarifies the existing or newly adopted scheme”.
He said food banks directed by local leaders are key to achieving zero hunger and building resilient food systems. The DCE for Pru East, Alhaji Abdullai Adams, commended Food For All Africa and its partners for the gift.
The Katapingyihene of the Yeji Traditional Area, Nana Kwame Dennyeh, said the donation is a big relief and will improve the livelihoods of the beneficiaries. He appealed to government to expand the LEAP programme to cover more vulnerable households, increase the number of beneficiary schools of the school feeding programme and also develop irrigation facilities in the area to enable farmers to shift from depending solely on rainfall.
He commended Food For All Africa for their efforts in creating efficient and sustainable means of healthy nutrition for vulnerable communities through food recovery, redistribution, and advocacy. He said the FFAA’s quest to fight hunger and food waste through technology, diversity, and innovation is highly commendable.
“It is a known fact that there are over a hundred people living in Yeji and its environs who cannot afford a healthy meal per day as a result of extreme poverty, and this is making them prone to malnutrition,” he said. Nana Kwame Dannyeh said unreliable rainfall patterns due to climate change, unavailability of proper storage facilities and bush fires are impacting negatively on food production in the area. He said the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) has helped reduce the burden on the extremely poor and vulnerable households in the Pru East District.
“Governments Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) is worthy of mention as it has the potential of boosting our food production agenda,” the chief noted.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke to GBC News were full of gratitude to the Food For All Africa and its partners for the support and said, ”this will undoubtedly reduce hunger in the beneficiary Communities”.
The FFAA said this had been achieved through the support of the Dubai government and the Food Banking Regional Network in Dubai, UAE and Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktuom Global Initiatives.
