The government must support the food value chain – Stakeholders

Goals to transform global food systems called for healthy diets for humans

Stakeholders in Ghana’s food system have come up with solutions to address the myriad of challenges that militate against the country’s agricultural sector, with dire implications for food security.

This was part of the United Nations (UN) global goal of ensuring a resilient global food system.

The food system includes agricultural production, food transport and trade, food retail and supply, and food processing. The Dialogue is in preparation for the United Nations Food System Summit scheduled for September 2021.

The United Nations Food Systems Summit is part of the Decade of Action to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Participants were stakeholders from government, academia, the media, the private sector and development partners.

Participants called on the government to develop mechanisms to monitor and support regional and district officers to play their role in the food system to ensure a resilient food system in Ghana.

Participants called on the government to create and maintain an enabling environment through enabling policies and strategies, providing incentives for the development of private sector actors.

Efforts should be made to promote public-private partnerships and increase budget allocations to support the food value chain.

Gaps identified in the Ghanaian food system were lack of database, inability to give early warning, fragmentation of food systems, lack of buffer stocks and irrigation systems, inability to absorb shocks , lack of food security hot spots and lack of digitization.

Filling in the gaps, participants identified that in the short term, there must be an enabling environment, identify systematic obstacles, consider innovative financing models, improved storage systems, the ability to get food to the market. market.

In the long term, participants called for an overhaul of the country’s irrigation systems to adapt to climate change, improvement of organic farming, improvement of the road network, introduction of policies to solve food safety issues and building systemic capacity, quality control systems, using technology to connect the level of the food system.

Professor Anna Lartey, professor of nutrition at the University of Ghana, said there is a need for political action across the food system.

There was a need to act in the food supply chain (production, storage, distribution, retail and marketing) and in the food environment, which implied food availability, food affordability, food properties. food, supplier properties and food messaging.

Prof Lartey noted that while the country’s food system was bad, there was no way the country could meet the SDGs, adding that farmers in this country are among the poorest, which is an indication of ‘a poor food system.

She said the goals of transforming global food systems called for healthy diets for humans; resilient to shocks such as pandemics and economic climate change; inclusive and equitable by ensuring equity for smallholder farmers, women and providing decent livelihoods.

She added that there is a need for food sustainability, ensuring that while producing food, the planet remains healthy and protective of natural resources and biodiversity. The goals of transforming global food systems aim to ensure efficiency throughout the food value chain.

A food safety expert / certification officer at the Ghana Standards Authority, Emmanuel Adjetey suggested that there was a need to integrate and implement ISO 22301, a business continuity management system in all public agencies in the food system in Ghana.

A representative of Ghana’s CSIR Research Institute, Dr Beatrice Darko Obiri said that if the country is to be resilient with its food system, the entire gap-plagued value chain must be addressed in a way that is holistic by reducing waste and increasing efficiency at every step. of the food supply chain.

“I also believe that forest-based food systems have often been overlooked although they continue to play a critical role in times of stress, adding that the need for cross-sectoral planning to design integrated strategies is essential in actions. political, ”she said.

The dialogue organized by the National Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture provided a platform for stakeholders in the food system value chain to present relevant suggestions for the redesign of the system. .