Government’s much-touted 1 District 1 Warehouse (1D1W) has failed to achieve its intended purpose. This is because the programme’s target; smallholder farmers, are not able to access the facility to address their concerns of Post-Harvest Losses.
It would be recalled that government expressed commitment towards improving Post-Harvest Management services in the country. To this end, warehouses were built in selected communities. The idea was to provide a conducive environment for the smallholder farmers to store excess produce for later consumption or sale.
But the warehouses have been described as white elephants as Post-Harvest Losses still abound, particularly within the five regions of the north.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East, Emmanuel Wullingdool, an Agriculture Consultant who doubles as the Executive Director for the Centre for Women in Agriculture and Nutrition (CWAN) explained that the siting of the warehouses do nothing to entice smallholder farmers to store produce.
Mr. Wullingdool again mentioned that while the warehouses may be able to store grains and cereals properly, the facilities in their current state cannot store fruits, vegetables and tubers.
Due this, fruits, vegetables and tubers account for huge Post-Harvest Losses each year.
Mr. Wullingdool made these comments on the back of findings from the 2020 Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA), implemented by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), with financial and technical assistance by World Food Programme and Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations.
The findings indicated that Food insecurity is concentrated in the five northern regions in the country, comprising, Upper East (48.7%); North East (33%); Northern (30.7%); Upper West (22.8%); and Savannah (22.6%).
A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
