President Akufo-Addo speaks at SDG data forum to end hunger forum

President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo is expected to speak at the Data to End Hunger in 50 Countries by 2030, an initiative of Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and the United Nations programme in New York on September 24.

This global push, which is to generate data for the sake of reducing poverty and hunger, will fund the collection of data farm-by-farm across 50 countries by 2030.

A release copied to the Ghana News Agency said the event is the largest ever financial commitment on data for development, which seeks to build an accurate, localized portrait of the smallholder farmer to guide future investments in agriculture.

The initiative, which aims to end hunger for 800 million poor farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America, will involve governments and donors in a commitment to deliver on Sustainable Development Goal 2 and grow enough food to feed the world.

It said a complete lack of data on poor farmers-what they grow, how much they harvest, their access to supplies and finance-makes it impossible for developing economies to solve their most urgent food-growing problems.

Smallholder farmers in across Africa, Asia and Latin America are chronically behind on global production and income averages-yet they grow most of their regions’ food.

It indicates this announcement comes on the heels of a UN report warning that global hunger will rise-821 million people now hungry and over 150 million children stunted, the report said.

Other speakers on the day include: President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya; José Graziano da Silva, Director-General, FAO; Beth Dunford, Assistant to the Administrator, USAID Bureau for Food Security; Claire Melamed, CEO, Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data; Rodger Voorhies, Executive Director, Global Growth & Opportunity Division; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; David Lobell, Director, Center on Food Security and the Environment and Professor in Earth System Science, Stanford University.