Founder of non-governmental organisation (NGO,) Chefs for Change Ghana Foundation (CFCG,) Mr. Elijah Addo Amo, has decried the practice of wasting food in the country.
CFCG is a non-profit food recovery organisation made up of chefs, students, hoteliers, and volunteers that have over the years been advocating for the reduction of food wastage and hunger in Ghana and across the African continent.
The NGO is also a partner of Save Food, a Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) global initiative, with technical support from Tristram Stuart (Global food wastage expert) and Aregalas Hellas (Chefs without Borders).
Food wastage, the founder of CFCG, noted was fast becoming part of the Ghanaian lifestyle.
According to him, the recent survey by FAO revealed that one-third of all food produced for human consumption was lost or wasted globally.
The loss, he said, amounted to about 1.2 billion metric tons annually. �Food waste is a global problem of staggering proportions, but the underlying reasons differ between countries,� he said.
Though Mr. Amo was full of praise for the FAO report, he criticised its failure to assess the corresponding climate and its economic impact.
In an interview with Today, Mr. Amo, a chef by profession, said the NGO�s research shows that Ghana lost 3.2 million metric tons of food valued at $8.9 billion in 2013.
That, he said, could have even been more if food losses on Ghanaian farms were included.
Distribution losses, he disclosed, amounted to 1.7 million tones, whiles retail and consumer losses were 578,000 and 946,000mt respectively.
He further revealed that the per capita retail value of total food wasted in Ghana every year is $342.67 as compared to the country�s estimated population of 25.91 million (Ghana Statistical Service, 2012).
The CFCG study also captured the inefficiencies in the Ghanaian food system and provided detailed information on what government, businesses and consumers should do to improve our food system.
It went further to calculate the amount of food wasted by weight before calculating the value of wasted food in the year 2013.
Mr. Amoo, however, suggested that increasing the efficiency of our food system would ultimately require a multi-faceted suite of solutions involving changes in consumer behavior, supply chain operation, market incentives, and public awareness.
He therefore called on government to conduct a comprehensive study on food losses in the country.
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