Ensuring food security in Africa: Why should Russia-Ukraine war create food problems for Africans — Dr. Solomon Owusu

"It is difficult to fathom why the Russia-Ukraine war should create food problems for Africans. After all, our foodstuffs are different from theirs and we have prolific lands for abundant food production," US-based mining engineer and consultant Dr. Solomon Owusu has stated.

According to him, African leaders do not see any value in building fertilizer plants to boost agriculture and also in return, create employment for the youth.

He stressed that Africans have not realised that the importation of huge fertilizers and agricultural products contribute immensely to the weakening of their currencies.

Dr. Solomon Owusu on his social media handle wrote "I sometimes wonder if our political leaders and academicians have forgotten that we produce wastes everyday, such as sewage sludge, industrial wastes, organic wastes, etc. The people in the Western World derive fertilizers from these wastes. Why can’t Africans also produce fertilizers from these same wastes but purchase them at higher costs from the Western World?”

He revealed that "because our wastes are poorly managed, they have become a big burden, making our cities dirty and creating preventable flooding, instead of converting them into fertilizers to boost agriculture, create employment, augment environmental cleanliness, generate electricity and generate wealth."

He continued, "We have lots of Africans working in the waste management and agricultural sectors abroad, particularly USA and Europe. Will our governments back in Africa incentivize them to integrate that knowledge back home in order to boost our Agric sectors? Over to all Africans, especially Ghanaians".

Ghana has for the past year experienced hikes in food prices which has been attributed to increase in farm inputs, fertiliser prices, transportation as well as many other factors that have been triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.