Latest news with #EricOpoku
Zawya
11 hours ago
- Business
- Zawya
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) bilateral meeting with Minister for Food and Agriculture of Ghana Honourable Eric Opoku
FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa Abebe Haile-Gabriel met today with the Minister for Food and Agriculture of Ghana, Honourable Eric Opoku, at the Ministry's headquarters in Accra. The FAO Assistant Director-General assured FAO's continued close collaboration with the Government of Ghana. Discussions covered key upcoming global and regional milestones including the FAO 80th anniversary throughout 2025, the 44th Session of the FAO Conference to be held in Rome from 28 June to 4 July 2025, the World Food Forum scheduled for October 2025, FAO's global exhibition 'From Seeds to Foods' and the launch of the FAO Museum, both also scheduled in October during the World Food Forum, and the ongoing Country Office strengthening process to enhance FAO's delivery as One FAO. The pair reaffirmed the long-standing partnership between FAO and Ghana and exchanged views on collaborating on priority areas for joint action, particularly the Feed Ghana Programme, launched by the Government with a view to boosting agricultural production, creating jobs, and reducing food imports. 'The two of us have a common goal: achieving food security and nutrition for everybody,' the Minister said. FAO and Ghana have a special relationship because the FAO regional headquarters for Africa is based in Accra, as well as the FAO Ghana country office. This makes FAO the largest UN agency in Ghana. 'We see FAO's Regional Office for Africa as a huge blessing to the nation. This is an opportunity for us to impact on the lives of the people,' the Minister said. FAO is currently supporting a range of initiatives in Ghana, including improving food security response in northern Ghana in partnership with the European Union, supporting women fonio producers, strengthening the soybean value chain under the One Country One Priority Product initiative, enhancing fisheries governance, and preventing transboundary animal diseases, among others. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): Regional Office for Africa.
TimesLIVE
28-05-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Ghana likely to miss cocoa output target in 2024/25 season: regulator data
Ghana's cocoa industry, hit by unfavourable weather conditions and increased smuggling, is likely to miss its output target of 650,000 metric tons of this season, data from regulator Cocobod showed. The world's second-largest cocoa producer has seen output fall in the two previous seasons due to reasons including diseases and illegal gold mining, which destroys cocoa plantations and reduces yields. Cocoa arrivals were expected to improve in the 2024/25 season, which now runs till end-July, but the latest data suggest output will fall short of forecasts. "Looking at the data and what usually comes on within May and July, it will be difficult to meet our production target of 650,000," said Frank Okyere, manager for the Ghana Cocoa Cooperatives Association, a lobby group of cocoa farmers. Data from Cocobod showed that cocoa arrivals at Ghanaian warehouses neared 570,000 tons as of May 2, missing 80,000 tons to reach the target before the season's end. In the 2023/24 season, production figures were below 550,000 tons, food and agribusiness minister-designate Eric Opoku said in January.
