The National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) and the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) have teamed up to enhance the capacity of the technical personnel of NAFCO in a move intended for efficiency in the agriculture value chain.

A total of Twenty-three technical personnel of NAFCO including Regional Managers, Food Safety Officers and Quality Control Managers drawn from all regions have taken part in a five-day capacity enhancement training workshop which was facilitated by a team of agriculture and food science experts from the Faculty of Agriculture of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

The participants were taken through various topics including Post-Harvest Management, Grains Storage best practices, Modern Warehouse Management Techniques, Food Safety, Quality Control and Standards.

Speaking at the opening ceremony in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Director of Food and Agriculture, Rev. Dr. John Manu hinted at plans by government for the implementation of aggressive measures to strengthen the country’s food security systems.

The measures, he said, are also intended to ensure resilience in the food security architecture.

According to him, the new strategies are to sustain the 2022 gains and scale up targets for the years ahead.

The workshop was funded by the World Food Programme (WFP) under its south-south triangular cooperation pilot project.

Rev. Dr Manu said following the huge success of government’s flagship interventions in the agriculture sector in the last few years, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is mapping out plans to consolidate the gains.

“Over the years, farmers have taken advantage of favourable government policies to increase their productivity. Some of the policies include the famous Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), one district one Warehouse, one village one Dam”, the regional director said.  

He said the training was critical in helping the National Food Buffer Stock Company to position itself, organise and collaborate professionally with aggregators when PFJ 2:0 government takes off soon.

“NAFCO must ensure reliable emergency national food reserve and explore subregional markets for surpluses in maize and rice to support national development”, he added.

He commended World Food Programme for supporting Ghana’s quest to be food sufficient, resilient and secure.

He lauded the partnership between WFP and NAFCO describing it as strategically prudent for Ghana’s food security agenda.

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of NAFCO, Kofi Amankwah said the training workshop was aimed at enhancing the technical abilities as the company seeks to re-position itself for national tasks.

He expressed gratitude to the Ghana Office of the United Nations World Food Programme for its financial support towards the organization of the training workshop.

The Head of Corporate Affairs at NAFCO, Emmanuel J.K Arthur who coordinated the training workshop told journalists the outcomes of the training included increased staff efficiency and improved operations to enable the company to deliver on its mandates more effectively.

The workshop was on the theme “Working together for food security and resilient food systems”.