Ghana loses about 50% of its food harvest to wastage- Danish Ambassador

Ambassador of Denmark to Ghana, Tom Nørring has disclosed that Ghana loses over 16 million dollars which is about 50 percent of its food harvest to post-harvest losses for some selected food crops.

Mr. Norring seized the opportunity to call for a stronger partnership between Danish and Ghanaian businesses to find feasible solutions to food wastage in the country.

He believes this can be mitigated if players in the agricultural value chain consider the gaps in the surpluses as investment opportunities.

Addressing stakeholders at a food security seminar organized by the Danish Embassy in Ghana, Ambassador, Tom Nørring advocated for solutions to combat food loss in the value chain.

“In early 2020, the Embassy commissioned a feasibility study with the aim of assessing the volumes of food loss and importantly, identifying the potential value if we instead take that loss and turn it into a gain. In essence, the study looked at the business case of investing in solutions to combat food loss for a number of value chains in fruits and vegetables. The study showed that there are intriguing business cases for farmers, producers, investors, and stakeholders in the value chains if we applied the right solutions to reduce food loss and instead turn this loss into value,” he said.

He further highlighted the volumes of loss and possible revenue in the food value chain.

“As an example, we can look at the area of Ashaiman: here the report assesses the value of post-harvest food loss for mango, yam, plantain, garden eggs, and tomatoes alone are valued at $16 million annually. An investment in solar-powered cold storage for these value chains will result in revenue of over $ 2 million for solution providers while providing additional revenue to traders worth over $8 million,” he disclosed.