Project to combat malnutrition takes off
THE International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has launched the Ghana Living Lab, a healthy diet project to help combat malnutrition and promote food diversification in Ghana.
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The project, known as HealthyDiets4Africa (HD4A) Ghana Living Lab, is expected to enhance access to diverse diets for targeted population in Africa as well as facilitate dietary changes towards greater diversity among consumers.
The project was launched in Accra at the Ghana Living Lab stakeholder workshop which brought together officials of strategic institution such as Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR), Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, partner agencies from neighbouring countries such as Benin, Togo and Nigeria as well as local famers.
The workshop offered opportunity for stakeholders to discuss and identify the actions to be carried out by the local participants in the execution of the work packages of the HD4A project.
It was organised by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), IITA and its partners, with funding from the European Union (EU).
Concept
Explaining the project, the Ghana Country Representative of IITA, Dr Richard Asare, said the project had “innovative concept and approach that targeted the diversification of the entire food system for the sustainable transformation of nutrition in Africa, providing healthy diets while protecting the environment”.
Dr Asare stated that the HD4A provided ground-breaking research and innovation in the field of diet monitoring to provide the nutritional status of target populations in eight African countries (Ghana, Benin,Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Liberia, Cameroun, Kenya and Uganda).
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He noted that the development and wide adoption of new innovative products, new varieties of major staple crops that were more nutritious than currently used varieties were envisaged for distribution under the project.
The Country Director of IITA said the project intended to develop production technology and recipes for the preparation of underutilised and nutritious African crop species such as indigenous vegetables that were currently not widely used and adopted.
Dr Asare said existing cropping systems would be improved under the paradigm of diversification to make them superior to current practice in terms of ecological footprint and diversity of produce.
Experience
The Food Safety Scientist at IITA Nigeria, Dr Titilayo Falade, urged Ghanaian counterparts to leverage on the experiences of Nigeria who launched its Living Lab last year, with a focus on addressing food safety concerns, specifically examining heavy metals, pesticides and mycotoxins.
This, she said, helped Nigeria to generate evidence and data on the current state of healthy diets in relation to food safety; adding that Nigeria currently engaged in various activities, including studies to understand knowledge, practices and awareness.
“By collaborating with various partners, we successfully generated valuable data that can be utilised for policy improvements, informing policymakers and knowledge institutions, and guiding future directions in food safety,” she added.
