The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has assured that it will play a pivotal role to have Ghana’s Food Systems Dialogues document disseminated to all relevant stakeholders to ensure its intended purpose is achieved by 2030.

Ghana is one of three African countries, including Malawi and Rwanda, selected after the United Nations (UN) Food System Summit Dialogues to pilot the Food System Transformative Integrated Policy (FS-TIP) programme after demonstrating courageous leadership in the development and implementation of an ambitious food system policy agenda.

Ghana’s national FSSD process began with establishing a national FSSD secretariat which instituted coordinating mechanisms to steer the dialogue process; after months of engagement between the various agencies and stakeholders, AGRA held a workshop for stakeholders to disseminate findings from Ghana’s Food Systems Dialogues by consultants. 

The meeting took place in Accra with the theme: Dissemination of findings from the Ghana Food Systems Dialogues. 

A consultant and convener for the food systems summit in Ghana, Prof. Amos Laar, explained that their work centred on finding new solutions to the challenges identified at the global and country levels to attain sustainable food systems. 

He indicated the need to develop food systems transformation investment plans, enhance investments in agricultural expansion, and improve access to financial services, including raw credit and microcredit, to fund small agribusinesses.

“Food systems have been conceptualised to encompass the entire range of activities involved in the production, processing, marketing, consumption, and disposal of goods that originate from agriculture, forestry, or fisheries, including the inputs needed and the outputs generated at each of these steps.

To a large extent, Ghana’s success in this space is attributed to the government’s forward-thinking long-term policies that have paved the way for short midterm and cross-sectoral interventions.

Ghanaian food systems stakeholders recognise that the road to 2030 will be bumpy due to diversity of challenges, but they are resolute in achieving their target,” he said.

Programme Officer, Advocacy and Policy, AGRA, Dr Dorothy Effa, said AGRA is an African-led organisation to help smallholder farmers increase production and wealth.

“Now that we have the document, there is the need to develop a strategy for dissemination, especially for follow-ups because Ghana has made commitments. 

"These Food Systems Dialogues are essential because we have challenges, and if you have challenges, then there is the need to find solutions. 

"We want everybody to have a stake in the ongoing dialogues for us to achieve the goals of the Food Systems Summit Dialogues,” she said.

The Food Systems Summit Dialogues (FSSDs) brought together diverse stakeholders who collaborated, deliberated, debated ideas and solutions and took actions geared towards attaining better and quality food systems in Ghana.