Let’s depoliticise food production, says Abraham Odoom
The former deputy local government minister said the country will suffer greatly if it messes up its food economy
Abraham Odoom, a former deputy local government minister has said the country needs to depoliticise food production.
Odoom said the country will suffer greatly if it messes up its food economy.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (25 October) he said, “For me, if there is one thing that should be depoliticised, it is food production … we mess up our food economy, we will all suffer for it.“
He added, “Food security for me has an essential basis in producing what you eat and eating that which you produce. If we can ensure this, it will benefit us for generations.”
“Ghana must start doing something unusual if we want to kick start a renaissance in terms of our taste for foreign goods adding that “Nigeria is a typical example … They eat their rice above all else”.
He said the country needs to be innovative and revisit the School Feeding Programme.
“School Feeding is something that we need to revisit … We can use the School Feeding Programme to re-engineer the local economy for our farmers. The biggest issue we face is a lack of innovation.”
“Change our mindset”
The former deputy minister said the current global challenges present a good opportunity for Ghanaians to appreciate and consume local food products.
“The mind is the greatest asset that we have … When the mindset of the people towards their own products changes then drastic gains will be made.”
“We talk about [changing our] taste on end to no avail. But this current global crisis has brought to the fore the need to have a national conversation on changing our taste to conform with what we have,” he added.
Odoom said policymakers need to take every opportunity they are proffered with to focus on local food production.
“This crisis presents an opportunity for Ghanaians to change our taste in the face of global food inflation,” he said.
Watch the video below:
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