Grameen Ghana, has interacted with stakeholders in some selected communities in the Nanumba North district of the Northern Region, at a sensitization programme on how to improve food security and nutrition through evidence based advocacy with government and the private sector.
This was part of a five-day programme with support from the Dutch government through the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and its being implemented by Grammen Ghana with support from SNV, the Netherlands Development Organisation.
The programme is aimed at improving food security and collaborative engagements with other stakeholders at the district level, with as one of the major challenges confronting agriculture and nutrition.
It is estimated that, 27% of rice that are produced is lost through post harvest, maize upto 18% and yam is almost 60%.
Speaking at the interactive workshop, the Head of programme for Grameen – Ghana, Mr. Mumin Musah, spoke about some of the challenges and how the organisation intends to deal with those challenges.
”Research shows that, close to about 50% of pregnant women experience some form of anaemia and stunting is one of the greatest factors affecting the performance of children. People need to understand why nutrition is important and how it is impacting on the lives of children and pregnant women. We need collaborative efforts by influencing policies and influencing agenda setting to discuss nutrition and post harvest issues so as to have improvement in the issues in order to avoid heading to crisis as it is likely to affect the country’s effort in meeting the Millennium Development Goals on nutrition and food security. The program is to build on efforts being made by others stakeholders in addressing nutrition and post harvest losses. We want to work from the grassroots level to the policy makers level”.
The programme is intended to harness the ideas and support of stakeholders in the districts, to get the programme running when it starts from 2017 to 2020.
There is going to be engagement meetings with policy makers like the Parliamentary Select Committee on food and agriculture to get them to appreciate the real issues confronting agriculture and nutrition, and to look at policies that are affecting agriculture, and review those policies.
Mr. Mumin Musah urged the media to be committed to reporting on these issues.
He explained that, water and sanitation are things that complement food security programme, saying, “If people do not have good water and proper sanitation, even if they have good nutritious food, it will be contaminated and that will not be healthy. So partners in that area must also come in so that there will be a holistic approach to the issue.”
“Research institutions are also involved because evidence is key in doing advocacy. Real facts must be presented as they appear on the grounds. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is involved. Evidence that is in existence will be made bare for people to know and evidence that are not in existence, the organizations will help in that regard” he noted.
The programme is dubbed “Voice For Chang” (V4C), and it’s a five year programme.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
