Let's go back to "operation Feed Yourselves"

Accra, Oct 19, GNA- Ghanaian have been urged to go back to the era of "Operation Feed Yourself" where almost every household had a backyard garden to supplement their food needs.

Mrs Anna Nyamekye, Deputy Minister, Food and Agriculture said when such attitude is cultivated it would ensure food security for the nation as well as complement the nutritional needs of individuals. "We should not continue to allow our backyards to lie fallow when we can use it to cultivate fruits and vegetable, which serve as the protective food needs for the body, especially now that government's focus on health is more of prevention and curative," she said.

Mrs Nyamekye was addressing community members of Kpone Bawaleshie in the Greater Accra Region at an educational training programme on nutritional values of food as part of activities marking World Food Day celebrations.

The training programme was organised by the Women in Agricultural Development (WIAD) Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture on the theme; "The Right to Food, Make it Happen".

October 16 was observed throughout the world as World Food Day. Mrs Nyamekye said when individuals cultivated their own food needs monies used by government to imports food would be channelled for developmental projects such as infrastructure.

She said it was unfortunate that as a nation, "we are moving away from our local diets that provided adequate nutrition for foreign ones that are posing as health threats such as the sugary foods, fried rice and the like".

Touching on the theme for the World Food Day, Mrs Nyamekye said, though most Ghanaians had the right to food, it was not about taking in any type of food, but rather "Nutritious foods that would provide the body with energy and all nutrients in the right proportions".

The Deputy Minister appealed to all to refocus on traditional foods since they had more nutritional values than those with foreign taste. She promised government support in achieving the right to food by ensuring that it facilitated and provided information to the public on how to achieve increases in food production.

Mr Theophilus Osei Owusu, Municipal Director of Agriculture said for farmers to fully benefit from the technological interventions provided by agricultural technicians, there was the need for farmers to confront the challenges of urbanization and its attendant land degradation problems.

"As a way out, a round table discussion with our esteemed stakeholders such as traditional rulers, development planners, real estate developers and civil society organizations will help find a lasting solution to these problems," he said. Ms Victoria Aniaku, an official at WIAD, took the community members through the various food groups, their sources and function. She said the body building foods were the plant and animal proteins; those that protected the body were the fruits and vegetables; and the energy giving foods were the cereals, starchy roots and plantains with fats and oils.