The Denmark Ambassador to Ghana, Tom Nørring has called for a closer engagement between Danish and Ghanaian firms to discover viable solutions to the country’s food waste.
He argues that Ghana wastes around half of its food harvest. This trend, he says, may be reversed if stakeholders in the agricultural value chain view excess gaps as investment opportunities.
Speaking to stakeholders at a food security conference held by the Danish Embassy in Ghana, Ambassador Tom Nørring said that Ghana loses over 16 million dollars due to post-harvest losses for some selected food crops.
“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 apply the right solutions to reduce food loss and instead turn this loss into value,” he said.
He also added that “building on the basis of the feasibility study and all the interactions since 2020, we aim to tap into all the corners of the food cluster to establish partnerships between Danish and Ghanaian firms and organisations. “We attempt to build partnerships that aim to address the problem of food loss, but do so on the basis of long-term economic models that make the collaborations a win-win for everyone involved,” he believes.
He also emphasised the volumes of loss and potential income 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 revealed.
