AVERTING FOOD CRISIS

HUNGER threat looms all over the world as a result of rising prices of cereals, particularly rice and wheat. What makes the situation alarming is that it comes at the heels of a crisis on the world financial market, painting a gloomy picture of a global economy heading for recession.
Our present situation has been aggravated by the fact that huge resources are being invested in the production of bio-fuels to reduce the biting effects of rising crude oil prices.
Until recently, world renowned scientists had convinced countries struggling to survive rising crude oil prices to diversify their energy sources and rely on bio-fuels. But such countries, including Ghana, did not reckon that such diversification would come at a cost.
The attention being paid to bio-fuels led to the withdrawal of considerable resources from the food market, thereby making food more expensive.
Unable to afford the high cost of food, people in most of the poor countries struggling for survival have decided to take to the streets. In Africa, people in countries such as Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroun, Ethiopia and Togo have demonstrated against rocketing food prices.
Ghana has remained calm so far and, like most of the calamities confronting the continent, we seem to be lucky again. Nonetheless, the challenge offered by rising food prices poses a threat to the security of mankind.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, speaking to journalists in Accra yesterday, asked Ghanaians not to panic over soaring food prices on the international market because there was enough to meet the demand.
He outlined certain interventions to make food available to all, including the provision of new rice seedlings and fertilisers at affordable cost to farmers to ensure food security in the country.
Although the DAILY GRAPHIC is relieved because of the assurance by the government, it is not certain whether or not the country's economy can stand the shocks on the international scene for the rest of the year.
It will, therefore, be prudent to patronise locally produced food crops and thereby offer a ready market to our farmers to expand production.
Soaring food prices should also be a wake-up call to our agriculturists, environmentalists and scientists to look at more eco-friendly agricultural practices that will give us more yield per hectare, without the resort to certain hi-tech productive techniques which, in the long term, do not help in the conservation of our water sources and enrichment of our soil.
It is also worrying that the high food prices can undermine the fight against poverty and hunger, which is one of the major objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Large-scale poverty can lead to social explosion that can also disturb the country's peace and stability. The world’s food outlook is gloomy, thereby thwarting efforts at making food affordable to all.
Our only cause for optimism is the fact that the government has realised the danger signals and is ready to act now.
However, the Daily Graphic believes that the country does not need short-term emergency solutions but significant interventions to ensure long-term productivity and food production.