She said to attained Zero Hunger within the next seven to twelve years, everyone must redouble efforts as the WFP reaffirms its commitment to support the transformation of agriculture, agribusiness and food security into a more inclusive, equitable, climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive sector, oriented to improve the lives of the most vulnerable and food-insecure. 

 She said the fact that Ghana had achieved the Millennium Development target of halving hunger ahead of the 2015 deadline, there was no doubt that the country could help achieve Zero Hunger by the African Union target year of 2025 and the world by 2030.

 Ms Yacoub was addressing the 38th World Food Day celebration at Nsawam in the Eastern Region.

The celebration was on the theme: “Our Actions, Our Future: A Zero Hunger World by 2030 is possible.”

She said the WFP had decided to focus its efforts on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 and 17, which were Zero Hunger and Partnerships respectively out of the 17 SDGs adopted by the world in 2015.

The Country Director said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in May this year, launched the Zero Hunger Strategic Review, which had a detailed roadmap highlighting gaps with time-frames of what needed to be done to achieve Zero Hunger.

She said post-harvest losses; lack of markets, adherence of food safety and quality, nutrition-sensitive food systems and inadequate nutrition before and during pregnancies was some of the gaps identified and included in the review document.

Ms Yacoub said the review findings informed the current and future programmes formulated in the WFP’s Country Strategic Plan for Ghana for the period 2019-2023.

She said the WFP is supporting agro-food processors under its innovative integrated food security and nutrition programme which is designed as a well-functioning value chain.

“Two Ghanaian-owned industrial agro-processors in Kumasi and Sunyani have received funds and technical expertise to enable the produce specialised fortified nutritious foods of international standards”.

Mr Francis Kingsley Ato Codjoe, Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, said the Ministry had introduced a number of programmes and strategies to enhance sustainable fish production to achieve national food security and to improve the living standard of fishing communities in Ghana.

He said rehabilitation works of two Aquaculture Demonstration Centres at Ashaiman and Kona in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions respectively, as well as hatcheries to boost fingerling production, were in progress.