A Feature by Christabel Addo
Accra, Oct. 19, GNA – Professor Samuel Boakye Dampare, the Director-General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) has urged experts in academia and research, to be increasingly opened to nuclear and related techniques for agriculture and upscale their inter-disciplinary collaborative research footprints.
He has also advised them to be rigorous in communicating their findings in a manner that ordinary people can appreciate.
Prof. Dampare said the world is still far off track in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Two – “Zero Hunger,” with a global prevalence of undernourishment persisting at nearly the same level for three consecutive years, after having risen sharply in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Available data shows that over 750 million people may have faced hunger in 2023, meaning, one out of 11 people globally, and one of five Africans faced starvation, a situation that is on the rise in Africa.
However, the global agrifood systems face the critical challenge of fulfilling the food security and nutritional needs of a growing population, while mitigating their environmental footprints, he stated.
Prof. Dampare therefore gave the advice at a public lecture and exhibition organised by the Commission in collaboration with its Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI), as part of activities to mark GAEC’s 60th Anniversary celebrations.
The event on the theme: “Atoms4food: Ensuring safe and nutritious food for better life and better future,” was also to commemorate this year’s World Food Day observed by 150 countries on the broader theme: “Right to foods for a better life and better future,” which include diversity, nutrition, affordability and safety.
Prof Dampare said while the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) global theme highlights the importance of prioritising access to safe and nutritious food for all, GAEC strategically extracted its topic, to lay emphasis on the vital role of nuclear science in enhancing food safety and security.
The lecture was therefore, to create awareness on the role of nuclear and related techniques for enhancing food security and nutrition in Ghana and globally, creating a platform for stakeholders to share knowledge and discuss ways of addressing concerns about foodborne illnesses and the quest for sustainable agricultural practices using the right initiatives and collaborations.
Prof. Dampare said the role of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) including nuclear and related techniques, is very key in ensuring sustainable food production and consumption by boosting productivity, maximising input use and enhancing resilience to climate change.
He explained that following the worrying revelations by the State of the World Food and Nutrition Report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), under its FAO Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture launched the “Atom4Food,” initiative in 2023, to push for advanced nuclear techniques to solve emerging issues and ensure food security globally.
Since then, Ghana had initiated action to participate in the joint FAO-IAEA initiative making BINARI-GAEC the first in sub-Saharan Africa to be designated as an IAEA Collaborating Centre for plant breeding and related technologies, and one of the six centres worldwide, to enhance food security through evidence-based scientific services.
This achievement follows several years of working with the IAEA on coordinated research projects, including national and regional cooperations, to build the required capacities to perform research on plant tissue culture and mutation breeding among other services to other countries in the region.
Prof. Dampare said BNARI-GAEC has over three decades now, demonstrated through its works that with improved plant variety, good soil, water and crop nutrition management, crop production levels can improve, stressing the need to create public awareness and showcase the Institute’s contributions towards Ghana’s sustainable agriculture and food security systems through peaceful application of nuclear science and technology.
He said the Institute has successfully utilised biotechnology and nuclear techniques in mutation breeding, to develop new mutant crop varieties that are disease and climate resistant, high yielding, nutritious and safe for all.
Other achievements includes the use of stable radio isotopes in managing soil water and fertilizer use efficiency, developing a Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) to control harmful pests to limit their negative impact on production and utlising the GAMMA irradiation at the BNARI-GAEC facility, to enhance agriproduct quality, prolonging their shelve lives and ensuring post-harvest management of agricultural commodities.
Mr Abraham Adu-Gyamfi, a Chief Research Scientist at the School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana, discussing the theme, highlighted the reality that safe and nutritious foods is becoming elusive to most people, with global statistics painting gloomy pictures of about 420 million deaths annually, from the consumption of contaminated foods.
He said an estimated global productivity loss of about 110 million dollars annually resulting from the effects of the consumption of contaminated foods, has been documented, placing huge burdens on national economies.
“As the global population races towards the 10-billion mark, it is important to rethink innovative ways to accelerate safe food production by deeply exploring science and other related fields like nuclear for safer and better outcomes,” he said.
He commended BNARI-GAEC for its numerous achievements in developing improved crop varieties and pest resistant ones including cassava, plantain, sweet potatoes, tomato, sorghum, soybeans, pineapple and cocoa for high yields, and the use of GAMMA irradiation technique for agrifood preservation, preventing wastage and enhancing standards for export, among other ongoing activities with the IAEA to mitigate climate change under the SMART project, which were all yielding heavily.
Mr Adu-Gyamfi however, stressed that with barely seven years to reach the 2030 SDGs target, most of the gains made were being fast eroded because of the duplicated challenges of agrifood systems in Africa and globally, including increased geopolitics, climate change, land issues, high food prices, poor food quality and low investment in agriculture.
He urged the Government to help improve the capacities of farmers, scientists and researchers and the public, to generate quality data for enhanced policies for agriculture, recommending also the reconstruction of key players in the food and agriculture sector, like the National Buffer Stock Company, the Planting for Food and Jobs, while enhancing Monitoring and Surveillance of the Food and Drugs Authority to make them more efficient.
He encouraged the private sector to invest strategically, taking advantage of the new techniques to enhance food safety and security, calling also for joint stakeholder efforts to help fight for land protection and over exploitation through mining activities.
Dr Millicent Cobblah, the Board Chair, BNARI, said the quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2nd – “Zero Hunger” and 3rd – “Good Health and Wellbeing,” depended on Science, Technology and Innovation, including nuclear and related techniques and there is no doubt that the Institute had achieved significant milestones over the period and currently participating actively in the “Atoms4food” initiative.
Panelists, during discussions threw more light on the “Atom4Food” initiative, explaining that nuclear techniques in agriculture had been widely research, and their safety documented, hence the fear and uncertainty that some radiation elements might be retained in these foods were just fallacies.
They warned the public about the dangers of heavy metal contaminated water from mining areas for crop production, as the health implications could be fatal.
They commended BNARI-GAEC for its tremendous achievements, admitted that access to safe food and quality nutrition was a human rights issue, therefore all effort must be made to ensure its achievement.
GNA