By Albert Oppong-Ansah
Accra, Feb. 25, GNA - The Government Monday assured of fostering an enabling environment for the adoption and upscaling of the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) technology to address waste disposal challenges and enhance food security.
Scaling up such transformative technologies will boost local industries and create employment opportunities for actors in the value chain, especially the youth.
The BSF is a wasp-like species of fly that converts organic waste into a nutrient-rich source of protein to feed livestock, poultry and fish farms.
Mr Eric Opoku, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, said this in a statement read on his behalf at the opening of the annual review and planning meeting of the BSF for Bio Circular Economy and Environmental Sustainability (BBEST) project, led by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (lITA).
The project is dubbed: “Chicken, fish, and pig feed and organic fertilizer value chain development using the Black BBEST based organic bio waste processing in DRC, Ghana, Mali and Niger.”
It was launched three years ago by IITA, a nonprofit organisation with funding from the Norwegian Agency of Development Cooperation (Norad).
Among its objectives are to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers of poultry, fish, pig and vegetables and contribute to improved urban sanitation and climate change mitigation.
Mr Opoku urged stakeholders to work together to unlock the full potential of the BSF technology to enhance farming, businesses and protect the environment.
Professor Anna Lartey, a Board Member of IITA, said the food system was challenged by erratic rainfall and increase in temperature caused by climate change adding that the BSF technology was in line with the global call for innovative ways to enhance food security.
She noted that about one billion people in Africa could not afford a healthy diet to survive.
Prof. Lartey, a Professor of Nutrition at the University of Ghana, said a substantial amount of the food Ghana produced was lost due to inefficient supply chains, therefore such innovation was needed to address the challenge.
She called on the Government and stakeholders to upscale the technology to farmers, especially to youth and women farmers to get the maximum benefits from their work.
Madam Vivian Hilder Opsvik, the Counsellor, Food Security and Climate/Deputy Head of Cooperation at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ghana, said the BSF larvae were a high protein feed option for big, poultry, and aquaculture production, offering a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional feed sources.
“The larvae can consume large quantities of organic waste including food scraps and agricultural by-products, helping to manage waste efficiently and reduce landfill use,” she said.
“BSF farming could lower the environmental footprint of meat production and contribute to climate change mitigation efforts.”
The waste problem is more severe in urban areas than the rural areas, owing to high population, prevailing economic activities and consumption patterns.
Methane is the sector’s commonest greenhouse gas representing 47.4 per cent of the total methane emissions in the country, according to Ghana’s imaiden Biennial Transparency Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
New sprawling suburbs without road access, social infrastructure and waste collection services compound the situation.
GNA