Ghana must grow more sustainable food

Today is Farmer' Day in Ghana. We are celebrating our gallant farmers under the theme: “Grow more food”. I wish 'sustainable' was already captioned in the theme. However, that does not take away the fact that Ghana must grow more food, while using less land and water and reducing emission of greenhouse gases, to respond to the challenge of climate change and growing world populations.

We need to grow more food. We need to do it sustainably. We need to reduce our postharvest losses and we need to make sure that what we eat and sell safeguards our health and wellbeing. Ghana is still a low-income food deficit country. Despite developmental efforts, it dropped 10 places to 152nd out of 182 countries in the 2009 Human Development Index. Some 45 percent of the population lives on less than US$1 a day and on the average, seven out of ten people living in the rural areas are poor. The situation is much worse in parts of northern Ghana where up to nine out of ten people live below the poverty line. Many studies have identified a lot of groups as the most food-insecure people in the country. Food security is as important to this country's future wellbeing, and the world's, as energy security.

We all know that the ways we produce and consume our food are unsustainable to our planet and to ourselves. We know that we are sacrificing the future of our children by our bad management practices. We know we are at one of those moments in our history where the future of our economy, our environment, and our society will be shaped by the choices we make now. We admit that Farmers learn to develop knowledge of the farming system and processes and the interactions in the agro-ecosystem to be able to make sound management decisions. In these ways, they become more productive managers of their own system.

Indeed this is not the first time that 'grow more food' is being campaigned in the world. The Second World War facilitated the implementation of the Grow More Food campaign in British colonies between 1939 and 1947. We thank the organisers of the Farmers Day Celebration for renewing the campaign. And we congratulate our gallant farmers and wish them a happy celebration. We say Ayekoo!

But the underlying success of past Grow More Food campaigns has been the development of clear and sustainable food and agricultural production policy for the countries. Our government need to devise a clear policy for ensuring sustainable agriculture production in the country. There are studies that suggest that Child malnutrition in Ghana is a multisectoral problem. Results of many studies have also shown that malnutrition is related to poverty, maternal education, health care and family planning and regional characteristics. Agriculture has been identified as the major contributor to deforestation and yet little effort is made to ensure cross-sector approach to sustainable development. We need a policy that governs cross-sector dialogue and implementation, assures standard and best management practices and guides the sectors in fostering public and private partnerships.

More importantly, the Grow More Food campaigns in the past reinforced the people's belief that they could be self-sufficient in food. In Ghana, agriculture is predominantly practiced on smallholder, family-operated farms using simple technology to produce about 80 percent of the country's total agriculture output. It is estimated that about 2.74 million households operate a farm or keep livestock. If our campaign would be successful, we will need to empower communities to demand the services of our extension agents, educators, researchers, businesses and financial institutions to enable them solve their own problems. When our farmers and communities are empowered, they would own their own solutions, increase security in the communities and they would contribute directly to protect the environment, ensure access to education for their children, enhance gender equity and secure sustainable livelihood for all.

Finally, we need to focus on our consumers, rather than retailers and businesses, if we would be successful with our campaign to grow more sustainable food. Consumers should lead by buying "greener" food, wasting less and growing more of their own. Cash crop producers will attest to the power of consumers to influence change towards sustainable and ethical production. Over 60% of major exporters of horticultural crops are certified GLOBALGAP and many more are in the process of being certified. Because their customers are asking for it, Ghanaian horticulture industry is taken gradual steps towards mainstreaming best management practice as a strategy for quality assurance, food safety and traceability. Consumers of chocolate are increasingly asking for Rainforest Alliance and other voluntary labels on their chocolate bars. These labels give the customers the guarantee that the cocoa beans which are used to make their chocolate are sustainably sourced and that in the origin countries like Ghana, biodiversity is conserved and sustainable livelihoods are ensured. We cannot run away from the power of the market to change behaviour.

As we mark the 26th farmer's day celebration, we should bear in mind that people power can help bring about a revolution in the way food is sustainably produced and sold in our country.

Christian D. B. Mensah
Agro Eco Consultancy
PMB KA 84, Accra
Email: mensahcdb@yahoo.co.uk