Hunger affects productivity- Minister

Wa, Sept. 26, GNA - Mr Mahmud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister, has said that, Ghana cannot get the best out of its human resource to move the development of the country forward if food is not available and accessible to all.

"There is no doubt that productivity will suffer if the manpower of a nation keeps thinking of where its next meal will come from", Mr Khalid explained.

He said it was time Ghanaians take malnutrition and hunger as an issue of great concern because "a hungry man is not a free man". Mr Khalid was addressing a stakeholders' orientation forum on the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Wa on Friday. The WFP organised the forum to throw more light on its activities in the region. Municipal and District Chief Executives, Directors of Ghana Education and Health Services, as well as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture attended the forum aimed at fighting hunger worldwide. Mr Khalid said food was not only key in sustaining and perpetuating the human race but was also cardinal in getting the best out of human resources.

"This is the reason why among all the objectives of the WFP, I see the strengthening of the capacity of countries to reduce hunger as the way forward and the right tool to defeat hunger", he said. The Regional Minister appealed to the stakeholders to come out with innovative ways to help government achieve its aim of attaining food sufficiency by working in collaboration with WFP. He said government had introduced the block farming concept and the establishment of farmers' services centres to provide tools and equipment to assist farmers to attain food security. Mr Khalid said support for the development of economic trees such as shea trees, mango and cashew was also being implemented, to diversify and modernise the agriculture sector.

He appealed to district assemblies to partner WFP to provide storage facilities to help reduce post harvest losses among farmers. Madam Gyamila Abdul- Razak, National Programme Officer of WFP said, the WFP had been implementing a country and emergency programmes in collaboration with key stakeholders, such as the Ghana Health Services, Ghana Education Service and the Ghana School Feeding Programme as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the three Northern Regions.

She said even though the collaboration had been fruitful there were few challenges including the delay in food movement, late report submission, food pilfering, misunderstanding, miscommunication and mistrust.

Madam Abdul-Razak said the rationale for the stakeholder's forum, was to share ideas and discuss challenges, to forestall future occurrences while ensuring a smooth implementation of WFP's programme.