The fate of the world’s poorest and wealthiest nations are interconnected, and eradicating poverty and hunger will be impossible without urgent and focused country cooperation efforts directed at long-term development, said stakeholders speaking at a meeting on the Validation of Ghana Food System Dialogues and Landscape Diagnostic Analytics. 

“During the last 2021 UN Food Systems Summit His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, recognised that access to safe, nutritious and affordable diets is central to the health and well-being of the population, and critical for combating hunger, malnutrition, morbidity, and poverty in Ghana. This vision is shared by the President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa Dr. Agnes Kalibata,” Vice President of the State and Policy Capability, Dr. Apollos Nwafor told stakeholders at the meeting.

Highlighting the long term and profound economic damage the Covid-19 pandemic is having in low income countries where poverty and hunger are on the rise, Chief Director the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Patrick Robert Ankobiah said the world’s food systems including that of Ghana are at the crossroads. 

“These systems have been unable to provide adequate food for millions of people resulting in widespread hunger in many countries. The food and nutrition security situation in sub-Saharan Africa is dire with serious consequences for public health and sustainable development."

He mentioned that "Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve SDG 2 - Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some modest progress most indicators are also not on track to meet the Global Nutrition Targets by 2025."

The meeting took place in Accra with the theme: Validation of Ghana Food System Dialogues and Landscape Diagnostic Analytics.

Ghana is one of three African countries including Malawi and Rwanda selected for 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 Food Systems Summit Dialogues (FSSDs) process began with the establishment of a national FSSD secretariat which instituted coordinating mechanisms to steer the dialogue process; after months of engagement between the various agencies and stakeholders, AGRA on Monday held a workshop for consultants to present the progress of work so far.

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

“The dialogues helped in the raising of awareness, elevation of public discussions, development of principles that have guided governments and other stakeholders about how to reform food systems to achieve the SDGs,” he added.

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