{"id":46883,"date":"2023-11-11T17:02:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T17:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?p=46883"},"modified":"2023-11-11T16:31:46","modified_gmt":"2023-11-11T16:31:46","slug":"food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa","title":{"rendered":"Food Security at a 10- year high in West, Central Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Following the COVID-19 pandemic and amid multiple environmental crises and armed conflicts around the world, hunger has increased notably in Western Asia, the Caribbean and Africa, according to FAO. Food security is now at a 10-year high in West and Central Africa, and the continent\u2019s growing population, which is projected to reach 2.4 billion by 2050, could prove decisive.<\/b><\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s innovations and partnerships with global initiatives provide avenues to ensure a reliable and nutritious supply of food for the continent and beyond. National genebanks are a prime example.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can think of [a genebank] as a library of different types of seeds. You have to keep these seeds alive and have enough of them to be able to distribute them to farmers, scientists and students who need them,\u201d said Nora Castan\u0303eda-A\u0301lvarez, manager of The Seeds for Resilience project at the Crop Trust, during a live-streamed discussion on GLF Live, titled \u201cHow can we safeguard Africa\u2019s crops?\u201d Seeds for Resilience works with national genebanks in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia to safeguard their seed collections.<\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s work for global food and nutrition security<\/b><\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, the team of Daniel Ashie Kotey, acting director of Ghana\u2019s national genebank (CSIR-PGRRI), were the hundredth depositors at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic, which safeguards duplicates of seed samples from almost every country in the world. The Ghanaian deposit included maize, rice, eggplant and cowpea varieties\u2013key crops for the country\u2019s food security, health, and culinary culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany seedbanks are exposed to typhoons, to social unrest, and if we don\u2019t have a copy of those collections [at back-up facilities such as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault], we are at risk of losing them forever,\u201d said Castan\u0303eda-A\u0301lvarez.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlant genetic resources conservation has to do with everybody,\u201d said Kotey during the same GLF Live conversation, and explained how 75% of the world\u2019s food is currently provided by 12 crops out of the thousands of plant species that humans have conserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf these, rice, millet and wheat provide more than 50% of the world\u2019s calories, and it is projected that climate change will cause a reduction in their yields,\u201d even as the world population will likely continue to increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to facilitate the conservation and use of indigenous crop varieties to diversify our food and farming systems for the benefit of current and future generations,\u201d said Kotey. \u201cIf we focus on these few crops, farmers might be forced to throw away the diversity they have. Without empowering genebanks, we will all be in peril.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the crops that are indigenous to Africa are in the periphery of research and funding. By narrowing down the diversity of food that we depend on, we are making ourselves increasingly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among other activities, genebanks collect, store and distribute plant genetic resources that are at high risk of being lost and acquire genetic material of local economic or social interest. One of their main challenges is acquiring funds to renovate facilities and modernize equipment, allowing them to conserve seeds in the long term and offer quality and updated seed collection information to farmers, who are not fully aware of what genebanks can offer them to address extreme weather challenges or the narrowing of the genetic breeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the seeds that we have in African banks are unique and essential for food and nutrition security; we should be able to keep them alive,\u201d explained Kotey.<\/p>\n

To keep supporting genebanks worldwide in perpetuity, the Crop Trust will continue to fundraise for their endowment fund. \u201cOur food systems are fragile, and we need to have options to be able to continue producing food and feeding the world,\u201d said Castan\u0303eda-A\u0301lvarez.<\/p>\n

Source: News Ghana<\/b><\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Following the COVID-19 pandemic and amid multiple environmental crises and armed conflicts around the world, hunger has increased notably in Western Asia, the Caribbean and Africa, according to FAO. Food security is now at a 10-year high in West and Central Africa, and the continent\u2019s growing population, which is projected to reach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-46883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nFood Security at a 10- year high in West, Central Africa - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following the COVID-19 pandemic and amid multiple environmental crises and armed conflicts around the world, hunger h ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food Security at a 10- year high in West, Central Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following the COVID-19 pandemic and amid multiple environmental crises and armed conflicts around the world, hunger h ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-11T17:02:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1699707511.885712.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Food Security at a 10- year high in West, Central Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-11T17:02:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa\"},\"wordCount\":655,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1699707511.885712.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/food-security-at-a-10-year-high-in-west-central-africa\",\"name\":\"Food Security at a 10- year high in West, Central Africa - 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