A group of Agri-stakeholders discussed the progress of implementing the Food System Resilience Project (FSRP) in a day’s workshop to improve food and nutrition security in Ghana.
The FSRP is a Regional project implemented in six African countries to improve food security in the subregion, including Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Togo, Chad, and Ghana, with funding from the World Bank.
Addressing the participants, the Coordinator of the Food System and Resilience Project (FSRP), Mr. Osei Owusu-Agyeman, said the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the World Bank had given the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP) the mandate to lead the preparation of the FSRP. The Coordinator updated the participants on the progress made by the FSRP team.
“We have solicited inputs with follow-up visits to most of the relevant institutions across the country to understand better the constraints and gaps needed by the project to improve food resilience in Ghana and the sub-region. With the assistance from the World Bank, we also looked at the sub-regional and global efforts to ensure that the project reinforces ongoing efforts to improve food system resilience at the sub-regional level.”
Mr. Osei Owusu-Agyeman
Mr. Owusu-Agyeman expounded that the objectives and strategies of the project align with the government flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), which is undoubtedly one of the most innovative and comprehensive agricultural programmes introduced in the country.
FSRP to assist the Food System enhancement agencies
The workshop sought to gather the inputs from all stakeholders into the implementation document and disseminate information on the progress made so far in the Ghana implementation of the FSRP. It is a response to challenges in the food system comprising production, high-cost food, food storage and processing, and trade, amongst others, in the six implementing countries to improve food security for the vulnerable.
Participants were drawn from agencies under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, CSIR, Agriculture, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focused on Food security, such as Esoko, among others, in a meeting held in Koforidua.
Mr. Osei Owusu Agyeman, Ghana’s Coordinator of the FSRP, noted that despite massive investments made by countries in the sub-region in agriculture, climate change impacts and others threaten food systems and security.
Agricultural intensification, overgrazing, and unsustainable agricultural practices have led to the degradation of natural resources and a rapid decline in soil fertility. Ghana’s smallholder farmers bear the brunt of negative impacts caused by land degradation. Loss of livelihoods and low agricultural yields result in chronic food insecurity, poverty, and increased vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather events.
The FSRP include assisting the Food System enhancement agencies such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Crops and Food Research Institutes of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), and allied agencies to strengthen their activities in addressing the deficits in Food security.
As part of the project deliverables, rehabilitation of Irrigation systems and mechanization of agriculture and others to improve yields, storage systems, and trade facilitation would be focused on to derive the maximum objectives of the project.
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