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Lydia Kukua Asamoah / Eunice Hilda Ampomah, RNG
Accra, May 22, GNA – Ghana Needs a
biological museum to characterize and conserve biodiversity and to clearly identify
and protect them for the sustenance of
humans, plants, organisms and aquatic life.
Dr. Michael Osae, Deputy Director,
Research Institute on Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture, said the country
could only conserve its biodiversity if it knew them all.
Biodiversity refers to the whole variety of
the life that we can find on earth for plants, animals, mushrooms and micro-organisms
as well as the communities they form and the habitats in which they live.
Dr. Osae said this at a forum held to observe
International Day for Biological Diversity organized by the Ministry of
Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and its partners in Accra on
Wednesday.
The national theme of the day was:
"Promotion of our indigenous foods and medicines; a catalyst to reach the
Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda "while the world theme was; "Our biodiversity, our
Food, our health ".
Dr.
Osae called for the strict application of closure periods for fishing and
hunting, adding that it was necessary to avoid the intensive use of
agrochemicals and insecticides, which were particularly harmful to biodiversity
foods and medicines.
"There's a saying that says," Eat your food like
Drug, otherwise you will eat your medicine as food "and that's what we
eating contributes enormously to our health while drugs contribute to our
well-being, "he said.
He also advised the public to give up the destruction
organisms such as termites and bees unnecessarily because some of them were
pollinators and served as organic materials to make the land fertile in food
production.
"As a country, we have not saved our
biodiversity with the imbalances we create in our ecosystem, we do not have it either
been concerned about what comes into the country. We focus instead on
what comes out of the country so as not to destroy our positions in the
international market, "he said.
He advised that structures and measures be
placed at points of entry to detect objects that may be dangerous to the
biodiversity and the country's food.
Mary Obodai, director of the
Food Research Institute (FRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Research (CSIR) stated that research had revealed that over 90% of food
varieties have disappeared over the past 100 years, while half of many
the animals had been lost.
She noted that the food varied locally
production systems were threatened while agro-biodiversity, as well as
essential knowledge about traditional medicines and local foods was disappearing.
There was an urgent need to develop and
promote synergies and strategies to reverse the force that has focused on the
positive role of restoring food biodiversity for human nutrition and poverty
relief, she said.
Professor Obodai stated that the CSIR is developing methods
for the establishment and maintenance of the Aboriginal agricultural development system
ecosystem to increase the resilience of local food systems, ensuring food security
and safety in promoting health and economic stability for future generations.
She revealed that the CSIR was also
conduct research in market-based food science and technology
the entire food value chain, from source to production, to
treatment and the consumer.
Dr. Kofi Donkor, research scientist at
Mampong Akuapem, of the Phytotherapy Research Center, said that there was a lot to
gain in herbal medicine when it has been given the necessary attention and that the
industry in 2016, contributed about $ 71 billion to the
economy.
He called on herbal practitioners to stop
cut the plants, only, for the drugs, but rather resort to the culture
medicinal plants to help generate more income for the country.
He suggested that a modeled plant be defined
to allow practitioners of herbal medicine to manufacture their products and
sold locally and exported to reduce the rate of foreign drug imports and
budget allocation to health.
Nana Kwadwo Obiri, Secretary General of
the Association of Practitioners of Traditional Medicine of Ghana called
government to ensure that herbal medicines are included in the National
List of health insurance drugs.
He said, "If they want us to stop
the advertising of our medications in the media, so they should register traditional
herbal medicines in the national health insurance scheme, "he said.
GNA
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