WFD2020: FFAA advocates for foodbanking - NaijaAgroNet ... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

NaijaAgroNet: 

In commemoration of the United Nations (UN) World Food Day, Food for All Africa (FFAA) has advocated for food banking in African countries especially Ghana, reports NaijaAgroNet.

FFAA, NaijaAgroNet gathered, provided over 500 packs of waakye meal, food bags and basic essentials to low income and vulnerable beneficiaries across Accra in commemoration of this year's World Food Day held on October 16, this year.

The COVID-19 global health crisis has been a time to reflect on things we truly cherish and our most basic needs. These uncertain times have made many of us rekindle our appreciation for a thing that some take for granted and many go without: food.

Dubbed “Food4All Mobile FoodBank Caravan”, staff and volunteers from Food for All Africa started from the Osu Oxford street to Kanda overpass, where they fed beneficiaries on the streets. The team then moved to Madina to feed head potters and vulnerable people mostly children.

Speaking to the media, Founder and Executive Director of Food for All Africa, Chef Elijah Addo expressed his profound gratitude to stakeholders within the food supply chain, who have been partnering over the years through the donation of their surplus food products.

“As we commemorate World Food Day 2020, I want to call upon public and private sector in Ghana to work together in promoting foodbanks in Ghana. 

"Food banks play a major role in the food aid sector by distributing donated and purchased groceries directly to food insecure families. The public health implications of food insecurity are significant, particularly as food insecurity has a higher prevalence among certain population groups. COVID-19 pandemic have shown that food banking in Sub-Saharan Africa is key towards the fight against malnutrition.”

This year’s UN World Food Day puts the spotlight on ordinary people using their efforts and resources to make food available and accessible to their communities. It is for this that the UN FAO selected Executive Director, Chef Elijah Addo, as one of its Global Food Heroes.

Chef Elijah since founding FFAA has been working with stakeholders within the food supply chain to recover excess edible and nutritious food to feed vulnerable and low income across Ghana. 

Food for All Africa operates West Africa’s first and largest community food bank in Ghana and has since 2015 been providing food to over 5,435 beneficiaries through their programs.

When the COVID-19 pandemic led to restrictions on movement and a loss of income for many, Chef Addo looked for ways to help people in need by stepping up distribution of food that would, otherwise, go to waste.

“Seeing hungry people, both on the television and in person, struggling for the basic necessities of life during lockdown, when there was lots of food going waste in the system, was a source of worry to me,” Addo says. “At the same time, it encouraged me to initiate the COVID-19 community-intervention programme, to ensure that the most vulnerable could have access to food.”

Following the onset of the pandemic, Food for All Africa began distributing approximately 650 food boxes and over 3000 hot meals weekly to vulnerable families in selected communities, with the aim to extend its coverage nationwide. 

In total Food for All Africa have distributed 7320 food boxes and over 120,000 hot meals with basic essentials since the outbreak.

Beneficiaries of the programme have included school children kept at home from both public and private schools, the elderly, and people living on the streets.

Isaac Oyimah/Editor