Every year on October 16th, World Food Day aims to raise awareness of the need for food preservation for all.
Marking the 2023 edition of the World Food Day under the theme: Water is life; water is food, leave no one behind, Food for All Africa (FFAA), a non-governmental organization that seeks to provide food for every individual, especially the vulnerable and prevent food from going waste commissioned the Ghana Agricultural Food Loss recovery warehouse at Shai Hills in the Shai Osudoku District of the Eastern region to add the already existing recovery warehouses in some parts of the part of the country.
In his opening remarks, the chief executive of FFAA, Chef Elijah Addo, said that for the past seven (7) years, Food for All Africa has worked with over two million Ghanaians, making sure that excess food is recovered to support the vulnerable in society.
Chef Elijah also noted that since the start of FFAA, operations have centred around the Eastern, Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Central regions, but the outbreak of COVID-19 compelled the organisation to expand its operations to other regions.
“Since 2021 to January 2023, we have shared over Two hundred thousand food boxes to more than one million households to support them”, Chef Elijah added.
The chief executive further noted that looking at the country’s agricultural sector, a lot of food goes to waste, especially when some foods are in season. As an organisation aimed at preventing food from going to waste, Food for All, through the Ghana agricultural food loss recovery warehouse, has been able to recover over 40,000 kilos of watermelon and tomatoes with the help of a few farmers.
Present at the event, the Agricultural Director for the Shai Osudoku District, Madam Esenam Bonsu, congratulated Food for All Africa for the initiative to stop hunger and recover food for vulnerable persons in society.
Madam Esenam Bonsu mentioned that, although other sectors contribute to the country’s GDP, agriculture stands tall and continues to transform lives in the country.
Addressing the gathering, Madam Esenam noted that it is important for every individual to have a healthy diet and get physical and economic access to sufficient food.
“The Shai Osudoku district is endowed with great potential in the agricultural sector value chain”, she added.
According to the agricultural director, the Shai Osudoku district, which produces close to 10,000 metric tonnes of fresh mangoes, has only 40 percent entering the market, leaving the majority going to waste, but with Food for All Africa, she is optimistic that such surpluses will be recovered to feed the vulnerable and meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) II, which is no hunger.
Vice chair of the board of directors of FFAA, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, speaking to Republic Press, disclosed that choosing to have a food recovery warehouse at Shai Hills was a strategy since most of the farmers they work with are located around the Eastern region.
He also added that since farmers are close to the warehouse they are willing to bring the food items from their farms to the warehouse, making it easier to prevent food from going to waste regularly.
Commenting on incentives, Mr. Adu Gyamfi mentioned that Food for All Africa plans to educate the farmers and engage the government to subsidies items for farmers.