Eric Danquah: Anyone who assumes Ghana is food secure might be joking
The professor of plant genetics says Ghana cannot continue to depend on imported seed to plant and feed its population
Eric Yirenkyi Danquah, a professor of plant genetics at the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) in Legon, Accra, has said that Ghana is currently not food secure.
He argues that the country has been struggling for decades in the areas of nutrition and security of food supply.
Speaking with Nana Yaa Mensah on the Sunday Night programme on Asaase, Professor Danquah said, “The subject of food and nutrition security is a very serious one, and Africa has to rethink how it proffers solutions to a problem that has haunted us for over 55 years.
“You look back: never have we been on the right track as a country in the area of food and nutrition security.
“I say this because you have to unpack what we mean by food and nutrition security. You are talking about all the 32 million Ghanaians, all of the time, having physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs.”
He added, “Anyone who will assume that we are food secure may be joking. Look forward to eight years to come – 2030. Ghana will have an additional five million mouths to feed. Where are we going to get the food from? And look at the complexity; COVID-19 is a serious threat to our food security.
“And there could be more serious threats like climate change … what this means is that if we don’t strive to become self-sufficient locally in food perhaps we will suffer tomorrow,” Danquah said.
“Let’s innovate”
Professor Danquah, who is also the founder director of WACCI, which is based at the University of Ghana, Legon, said Ghana cannot continue to depend on imported seed to plant and feed its population, hence the need to innovate.
“… you depend on the import of seeds to plant. It’s ridiculous. How can a nation depend on the import of seeds to plant?
“I just cannot understand why we cannot innovate to ensure that all of the seeds that farmers plant [in Ghana] are from local institutions,” he said.
Watch the video below:
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