By: Seraphine Nyuiemedi
The Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Letsa says Volta Region has potential in the Agriculture sector, which must be harnessed for an increase in the country’s food production.
He said the region is a major contributor to the nation’s food security. He indicated that the region possesses vast hectares of arable land for the production of a wide variety of tropical crops, with suitable environmental conditions for poultry and livestock production, as well as several water bodies suitable for irrigation farming
Mr Letsa was speaking at this year’s World Food Day which was commemorated at Sogakorpe in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region.
Findings from the 2020 reports of the Ghana Statistical Service indicates that 3.6 million people across the 261 administrative districts were food insecure. Of the figure, 5.2 percent, representing 1.6 million people were severely food insecure. 6.5 percent, representing 2 million people were moderately food insecure. The findings also revealed that 78 percent of Ghana’s food-insecure population can be found in rural areas. The Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Letsa described the data as worrying, the situation where the population producing most of the country’s food is the most affected.
“If all or majority of our food is produced in the rural areas, how come this study is also revealing that, the very population producing the food we all eat, is the same that is good insecure. There must be something really wrong with our approach as a people to agriculture marketing. A situation where the producers export all they have to the urban centres and leave very little or nothing at all to themselves. This must be a worrying trend” he said.
He said the Volta Region is a potential food basket of Ghana and urged investors to invest in the region’s Agriculture and aquaculture sectors in order to enhance Ghana’s food security.
“The Volta Region is ready for any investment in agriculture and aquaculture towards enhancing the food security of the country on the premise that the Region has vast hectares of arable land and several water bodies. I implore you to assist us to become the food basket of Ghana, and an industrialised region through the harnessing of our potentials in agriculture”.
This year’s commemoration was on the theme: “Leave no one behind -better nutrition, a better environment and a better life”.
