The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has recommended the rollout of a national policy that prioritises investment in the country’s food chain, particularly transport, storage, processing and market infrastructure to improve the availability and affordability of nutritious foods.
The recommendation, which came on the back of a research project conducted by the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute of CSIR (CSIR-STEPRI), said investment in the food value chain infrastructure would make healthy food easier for people to access, afford and choose, especially in low-income communities.
The “From Evidence to Action” policy recommendations of CSIR-STEPRI said evidence suggested that an unhealthy food environment contributed significantly to poor diet quality, rising overweight and obesity, as well as the double burden of malnutrition, particularly among poor urban populations.
A principal investigator at the CSIR-STEPRI, Dr Rose Omari, presented the recommendations last Wednesday at a stakeholders’ workshop on the Shaping Food Environment in Transitioning Economies for Sustainable and Healthy Diets (FETE) project.
FETE project
FETE is a three-year research project implemented by the CSIR-STEPRI in partnership with the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), Nottingham University (Malaysia) and the Thunen Institute of Market Analysis (Germany).
The project was conceived against the backdrop that, even though the food environment played a critical role in shaping dietary behaviour and health outcomes, there was increasing evidence of an unhealthy food environment that was contributing significantly to poor diet quality, rising overweight and obesity, as well as the double burden of malnutrition.
Findings
Tracing the food supply trend in Ghana over 40 years (1982-2022), the study found that in terms of cereal consumption, 34 per cent of the population consumed rice; maize accounted for 29 per cent while wheat and millet were responsible for 16 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively.
For tubers, the study found that cassava was largely consumed by 59 per cent of the population; yam was consumed by 28 per cent, and potatoes and others accounted for 13 per cent.
The research stressed that while Ghana had improved food availability over the four decades, the next phase of transformation needed was the prioritisation of dietary quality in terms of protein adequacy and diversity.
The research also mapped the flow of fruits and vegetables from farm gates to households across Accra and found that transport “is the clearest weak point.”
“Transport is road-based, non-specialised haulage and limited cold-chain capacity mean that delays and breakdowns translate directly into spoiled produce,” the study found.
The study found that losses exceeded 40 per cent for leafy vegetables, tomatoes, mango, and okra due to bruising, rotting, poor handling and delays.
For access to healthy and unhealthy foods, the study found that 71.5 per cent of food purchased from traditional or wet markets was nutrient-rich compared with 46.4 per cent at street or mobile vendors; 40 per cent from convenience stores, and 32 per cent at supermarkets.
Interestingly, the study found that while the traditional wet market was the most strongly linked to healthy purchasing, it was also the outlet type the communities were least likely to have nearby.
Regarding the personal food environment, diet quality and nutritional status, the study established that 70 per cent of respondents ate meals outside the home.
Dr Omari said the tendency of people to eat unhealthy foods was largely dependent on how accessible foodstuffs were at the market, which was why there was a need to improve the transportation system.
“The consumers are eating what is available to them; it is what they see that they eat.
The healthy ones are mostly in the markets, which are far from the communities,” she said.
She said the proliferation of convenience shops in the communities was aggravating the purchase and eating of unhealthy or junk foods, which had dire health consequences.
Dr Omari underscored the need for the government to improve the road networks that connect local communities to help transport food from the farm gates to the local markets.
Government support
For her part, the Deputy Director of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), Alice A. Safoah, described the study by CSIR-STEPRI and its partners as timely because a healthy food system was key to ensuring a healthy human resource needed for national development.
She said MEST would support research projects that were targeted at improving the country’s food environment.
Source: Graphic online
