Addressing post-harvest losses crucial for poverty fight - WFP

Steven Odartefio, Food Systems Coordinator at World Food Programme (WFP) Ghana. says managing post-harvest losses is crucial for ensuring food security and fighting poverty.

Post-harvest loss, the decrease in quantity and quality of agricultural products after harvesting, during handling, and storage, among others, he said, remained a major contributor to the decreasing income of farmers and rural communities and all must be interested in fixing the challenge.

“Critical aspect of fighting poverty is fixing the issue of post-harvest losses. Cocoa is giving us about two billion dollars every single year in income and post-harvest loss is taking away that two billion dollars because of the value and our inability to transform our raw materials into finished quality products.”

Mr Odartefio said these during the launch of post-harvest mechanisation training programme at Ohawu Agricultural College, Ketu North to train 250 agricultural engineering graduates from the Universities and training colleges in the installation, maintenance, repair and operation of post-harvest equipment.

A similar launch will be held on Monday for a second batch at Wenchi Agricultural College and later in the year, a focus on some 500 women at Damongo with other programmes expected to be rolled out in 2025 and 2026 to benefit farmers.

The $15 million programme being implemented by the WFP in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Ghana National Service Scheme (NSS) and Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana (CAG), seeks to increase incomes for about 100,000 farmers through post-harvest interventions, like provision of dryers, threshers, and mills, and equipping young people with the technical expertise to manage the losses.

Mr Odartefio urged the participants to transform the experience that they would generate from the six-week intensive training into the world businesses that filled the gap and deficit that existed in the repairs and maintenance of equipment to benefit agriculture production in Ghana and beyond so that “Kwame Nkrumah’s dream of a country that is able to manage not just its own affairs but that of the entire continent can be realised through all of you over here.”

Mr Amatus K.B. Deyang, Head of, the Agricultural Engineering Services Directorate, thanked the WFP for the initiative, which he said would contribute to reducing further post-harvest losses, saying, he expected a 50 per cent women participation in the training, not the 30 as the majority of smallholder farmers are women, with more women continually venturing in commercial farming.

Mr William Dzamepe, Volta Regional Director of Agriculture, described the launch as a milestone that would be recognised as the beginning of finding solutions to post-harvest losses, saying, the region’s main produce, rice, maize, cassava and vegetables suffer varying degrees of post-harvest losses and applying mechanisation of machinery in handling the produce would minimise the losses.

Mr Gabriel Osei Jnr., Director, Business Development, NSS said the Scheme, which would soon become an Authority with a new mission to move from mobilisation for deployment to deployment for employment, teamed up with the WFP to deliver the essential skills to the participants, selected from about 1,500 applicants.

He encouraged them to “give off your best, learn what you can and when you’re done, we’ll also play our part by ensuring that the much-needed employment for which reason you came here will be guaranteed.”

Mr Anthony Morrison, Chief Executive Officer, CAG said the participants would receive training that would align with their job preference, noting the role and training would differ for trainees desiring to be consultants, employers or employees.

They would also take them through the hazards in the industry to prepare them to contribute meaningfully to managing post-harvest losses in the country to enhance food security.

Participants who spoke to Ghana News Agency had high expectations of the training programme and expressed gratitude to the organisers.

Ms Vida Fafanyo Mensah, who studied Public Health Nutrition at the University of Health and Allied Sciences, said she hoped to use her training to enhance food security to benefit the larger public.

“It’s been a dream to contribute to the processing of rice here in the Volta Region. I believe I’m going to be equipped with practical skills of how to handle the produce after harvesting,” Mr William Agboado from Cape Coast University said.