Veep holds discussions with CGIAR

A delegation from the CGIAR Consortium, an international organisation that advances international agricultural research for food security, yesterday held discussions with the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, on ways to explore the use of scientific research to boost food security.

Led by the Director General of the International Potato Centre (IPC), Dr Barbara Wells, the delegation is in the country to explore how the consortium could expand its activities in the areas of hunger alleviation and fighting malnutrition.

The Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Alfred Tia Sugri, who accompanied the delegation to the Flagstaff House, told the Vice-President that research had established the health benefits of potatoes and that the IPC, whose core business was potato cultivation, had expressed its intention to invest in scientific research in Ghana, using improved methods of agriculture.

He said the IPC was also working closely with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to give meaning to its operations in Ghana.

IPC Director-General

For her part, Dr Wells said the IPC had the objective of impacting 500,000 households in Ghana by the end of 2015 and 15 million households in Africa by 2023.

She stated that its activities would be focused on the health and nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating mothers.

She said the activities would also be tailored towards creating business opportunities for young people, as well as building  relationships with some universities to build the capacity of graduate students in their desire to become entrepreneurs.

Vice-President

Mr Amissah-Arthur lauded the IPC for its work and underscored the need for African food scientists to focus on conducting research into broader food chains.

Background

The IPC, commonly known by its Spanish acronym CIP, was founded in 1971 as a root and tuber research-for-development institution that delivers sustainable solutions to the pressing world problem of hunger, poverty and the degradation of natural resources.

Earlier, a delegation from Ethiopia, whose membership included the world marathon legend, Haile Gebreselasie, had been received by the Vice-President to kick-start activities leading to Ghana hosting the Accra Marathon scheduled to take place on September 6, 2015.