Accra, July 6, GNA – Ghana could become self-sufficient in food production if the present 30 per cent post-harvest-losses is controlled, Director of Training, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Dr E. N. Barnor said on Monday.
Dr Barnor, who was speaking at the opening of a two-week “Training Workshop on Post-Harvest Technology for 30 Post-Harvest Officers of the Ministry, said if Ghana were able to minimise post-harvest losses, then the country would be on the road to achieving food security.
The workshop is on “Post-harvest Technology for Perishable Crops” and is being organized by MOFA in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering Sciences of the University of Ghana, Legon.
Dr Barnor said agriculture remained the dominant Sector of the Ghanaian economy; it employed about 60 per cent of the population; contributed about 40 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and raked in 43 per cent of the total export earnings of the country.
He appealed to the participants to take the training serious, adding that they would be taken through a whole chain of managing post-harvest losses from harvesting, handling, processing, packaging, storage and utilization of agricultural produce and residuals to achieve zero wastage.
Dr Barnor said they would be required to go back and pass on the knowledge they would acquire “to our hard working farmers so as to improve on their post-harvest handling practices”. 6 July 04
Source: GhanaWeb
