By: Seraphine Nyuiemedi
As the global community marks World Food Day today, the World Food Programme Ghana has entreated all stakeholders in the food value chain to consider innovative ways in farming to ensure food security.
The Representative and Country Director for World Food Programme Ghana, Barbara Clemens said more than 828 million people globally go to bed daily without food.
She said while others may have access to food, it is inconsistent due to over dependency on rain for food production.
Madam Clemens said this at the commemoration of the World Food Day at Sogakope in the Volta Region.
World Food Day was instituted by member countries of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in November 1979.
It is celebrated annually on October 16, 2022 to raise awareness on issues of poverty and hunger.
This year’s commemoration is on the theme: “Leave no one behind -better nutrition, a better environment and a better life”.
In a message from the UN’s Resident Co-Ordinator in Ghana, Mr. Charles Abani, pointed to the increasing cases and malnourishment.
The message was presented by Dr. Francis Kasolo.
It said statistics show that about 9 percent of the world’s population suffer from hunger and its related effects. A situation he indicated is a threat to the attainment of the SDG 2 which focuses on Zero Hunger by 2030.
“After decades of steady decline, the number of people who suffer from hunger as measured by the prevalence of undernourishment has slowly been increasing from 2015. Current estimates show that approximately 8.9 percent of the world population is hungry. The world is therefore not on track to achieve SDG 2, Zero Hunger by 2030. If recent trends continue, the number of people affected by hunger would surpass 840 million by 2030”, he stated.
The Representative and Country Director for World Food Programme (WFP) Ghana, Barbara Clemens said the WFP Ghana continues to contribute immensely to Ghana’s agroprocessing value chain through its initiatives. She added that WFP is committed to developing a multi and common user agroprocessing facilities in Ghana.
“Our next Country Strategic Plan will focus on developing multi and common user agroprocessing facilities. We also envisage an expansion Digital Loyalty Partnership Platform with the potential of reaching an infinite number of Ghanaians”.
The platform will provide rewards which can be redeemed for goods and services that people have had to deprioritize because of decisions to adhere to healthy diets and other positive actions.