World Food Day marked in Ghana
World Food Day was declared by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1979 to mark the date of the founding of Food and Agriculture Organisation in 1945. The aim of the Day is to enhance public awareness of the world food problem and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. In 1980, the General Assembly approved observance of the Day in consideration of the fact that food is requisite for human survival and well-being.
The theme for this year’s celebration, “Food prices – From crisis to stability”, was adopted by the FAO to shed light on the current food trend and what could be done to allay its impact on the most vulnerable, placing specific emphasis on the fact that good nutritious food is the very foundation of healthy children and nations.
United Nations agencies tasked with tackling global hunger highlighted the need, ahead of the World food Day on Friday, for intensive efforts to address the root causes of hunger, focusing on the need to ensure that children have enough to eat, and addressing the factors that make food unaffordable for so many.
According to the FAO, mitigating the effects of price volatility, national or regional safety nets, possibly featuring emergency food reserves, can aid in ensuring food supplies to needy and vulnerable groups during crises, while poor consumers can also be assisted with cash or food vouchers and producers helped with inputs such as fertilizer and seeds.
In Ghana, recent statistics show that Ghanaians and the agricultural sector have been hard hit by the successive food crises and global economic woes, in particular due to climate change.
Recent research show that, while 1.2 million Ghanaians are with limited access to sufficient and nutritious food throughout the year, another 2 million risk becoming food insecure during the lean season or at the striking of natural or man-made disaster. According to researchers, the majority of the 5-10% of the population would be people concentrated in the 3 Northern Sectors of Ghana: the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.
It has also been highlighted that high temperatures in Ghana will lead to low cereal yields throughout the country, especially maize and millet. Moreover, roots and tubers such as cassava, yam and cocoyam – which are also key staples in the Ghanaian diet – will see a fall in its production.
Ghana’s fisheries have also experienced gradual decline during the last four decades, mostly due to overfishing and lack of good governance in the fishery sector. The decline of the fishing sector has limited the country’s ability to meet domestic demand and threatened the economic and food security of many Ghanaians. It is also feared that the dramatic reduction in fish production will affect negatively the nourishment level of the nation especially women and children.
The Government of Ghana, led by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has formulated some policies seeking to address the challenges in the agricultural sector, although some strategies to minimizing factors that affect food production have not been implemented yet.
Akosua Asare, ETV News, Accra.
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