Noble idea cutting food waste, feeding the hungry in Ghana

Seeing a homeless man collecting scraps of food to feed other homeless people triggered the creation of the charity, “Food For All Ghana”.

Food manufacturers and suppliers are asked for unused and excess food or products approaching their best-before dates. Food and products collected are sorted and processed by the NGO.

“We believe that Africa produces enough food, supplemented with what we import to supplement our food production. However, the flaws in our food supply chain make forty percent of food go to waste,” says Elijah Addo, the leader and founder of “Food For All Ghana.”

Every weekend, volunteers from ‘Food For All’ visit schools, hospitals, orphanages and other public institutions to help the most needy.

In three years, the association has served more than 48,000 meals.

“Before the program ‘Food For All Ghana’ began, most of the beneficiary organizations as well as psychiatric hospitals had difficulties in obtaining food for their patients because they depend on the goodwill of the people and their donations that arrive not always,’‘ said Addo.

Samuel Ato Aggrey, a quality assurance officer at Kwatsons Food Import and Distribution firm which has been participating in the scheme, described the initiative as “a way of helping society”.

Ghana was classed a lower middle-income status country after the discovery of oil in 2010 but still has poor development indicators, particularly in the north, where poverty heightens food insecurity.

Just under 25 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank, with incomes stretched in recent years by rising inflation and a depreciating currency.

A 2013 study conducted by the NGO into waste in the supply chain and its impact indicated that more than 25 percent of food goes waste in Ghana.

Reducing food losses by 15 percent would provide enough food to feed seven million Ghanaians every year.

The report recommended that companies conduct regular “food waste audits”, set targets to reduce waste, and called for the government to support recovery and public education programmes.

AFP

Photo Credit: Food For All Ghana