Ghana accelerates and celebrates efforts towards Zero Hunger
Going beyond undernourishment on World Food Day 2018
Ghana celebrated this year’s World Food Day with local chiefs, schoolchildren and crucial stakeholders in agriculture at Nsawam, a farming community in the Akuapem South Municipality in the Eastern Region.
With a global theme, “Our actions are our future: a Zero Hunger world by 2030 is possible,” the Celebration this year underscored the urgent need to step up collective efforts to reach the Zero Hunger goal.
Speaking at the event on behalf of the Guest of Honour, Ghana’s former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Baffour Agyeman Duah stated that the essence of the day was to specifically promote worldwide awareness and call for the right attitude of humankind, to stop hunger, and to ensure food security and nutritious diet for all.
He said the theme for the event reinforced the need to promote smart and innovative farming systems to ameliorate the adverse impact of inefficient agricultural and socio-economic practices. Some of these are the inappropriate use of agro-chemicals and activities of small-scale miners on agricultural productivity and the environment, and the ramification of the negative effect of climate change on farmers and fishers in Ghana.
FAO celebrates the World Food Day each year on 16 October to commemorate the founding of the Organization in 1945. The 2018 celebration is a chance to call for greater commitment to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, and highlight efforts to achieve Zero Hunger. It is also an opportunity to engage the public and show them how they can play a role in ending hunger. More than 150 countries celebrate the World Food Day.
Zero Hunger is not limited to the fight against undernourishment only.
Ghana has made progress in most food security and nutrition indicators. However, the prevalence of obesity in the adult population (18 and above) rose from 8.3% in 2012 to 9.7% in 2017, which is the second highest amongst West African countries. Overweight and obesity are increasing the risk of non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks and some forms of cancer.
"The concept of Zero Hunger is not limited to the fight against undernourishment only, it also aims to provide people with the necessary nutrients for a healthy life," said FAO Representative to Ghana and Regional Programme Leader for RAF Abebe Haile Gabriel.
He pledged FAO’s continuous support and collaboration together with other partners to the Government of Ghana and other national stakeholders in the effort towards making Ghana a hunger and malnutrition free nation.
Our actions are our future
Hunger is a threat to global development prospects and plans to achieve sustainable development goals and Ghana is no exception. There is clear evidence that in Ghana many key economic assets from coastal, to agriculture and water resources, climate change plays a role on poverty reduction, health and women’s livelihoods.
The Minister of State in charge of Agriculture Dr. Gyiele Nurah reiterated Ghana’s recognition of the importance to take the necessary actions to increase resilience in the face of climate change challenges. He emphasized that the government policies, programmes and strategies are formulated and designed to achieve the desired objective of transformation.
He also emphasized on the importance of the private sector in the fight against hunger by adding that “Much however, will depend on individuals who have the resources to enter farming and aquaculture programmes to ensure production to meet the needed diet and nutritious food not only to fight hunger but also to ensure enough to export for income”.
The Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mr. Francis Kingsley Ato Codjoe, on his part acknowledging FAO’s ongoing technical assistance for the review of the Fisheries Act, emphasised the strategic significance of the collaborative effort in improving the legal framework for Ghana to address her international obligations on fisheries issues and strengthen institutional capacities to enforce relevant laws.
Towards a Zero Hunger future
According to the 2018 report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World “Building resilience for peace and food security”, over 821 million people suffered chronic undernourishment in 2017. Conflict, extreme weather events linked to climate change and economic slowdown are reversing important progress made in the fight against hunger. Furthermore, the alarming increase in malnutrition, especially overweight and obesity the world over, calls for urgent action.
FAO is supporting the global effort to achieve Zero Hunger both at international, regional and national levels by providing decision-makers with solid and relevant evidence, including statistics and monitoring data and advising on the formulation, implementation and promotion of international treaties and legal frameworks that supports national agriculture and food policies strategies and legislation.