Ghana's success in the fight against hunger- a lesson for others #ghana

As India starts its version of Brazil's famous zero
hunger campaign, the world's most populous democracy
could take some inspiration from Ghana.
The West African country "has met zero hunger", Jose
Graziano da Silva, head of the Food and Agriculture
Organization said on Thursday. Former Ghanaian president
John Kufuor can take at least some of the credit for this.
It started with a simple move to change the tax code when
Kufuor's government first took office in 2001.
Taxes on cocoa, a key export crop, stood at 60 percent of
the market price, so growers could keep only 40 percent of
the value of their production.
"We reversed this, giving the farmers 60 percent of the
profits," Kufuor said in an interview with the Thomson
Reuters Foundation. "The state had been over-taxing the
farmer."
"Farmers needed chemicals for fighting pests and fertilizers,
the government paid for this."
The investment paid off and cocoa production doubled
within four years, sending more money into state coffers for
infrastructure investment.
The government then turned its attention to trying to
mitigate deforestation. In 1960, more than 60 percent of the
country was covered in forest but deforestation has
decreased coverage to 21.7 percent today.
The state allowed landless families and unemployed people
to use land where the forests had been cut, to plant crops
interspersed with new trees in what became known as the
Modified Taunga System.
After getting training from the state, local residents were
able to earn an income when the trees were harvested,
preventing additional land from being logged and improving
food security for some of Ghana's most vulnerable citizens.
Finally, the country tried to move up the value chain for its
cocoa production. "Chocolate, which is loved
internationally, especially by the ladies, wasn't part of our
traditional diet," Kufuor said. "The beans were exported."
"We saw the need to attract top quality processors to
Ghana."
Some large multinational confectionery companies moved in
and set up factories, though the country still exports more
raw beans than refined chocolate. "The objective is to add
value locally so 70 percent of the cocoa is processed and
only 30 percent is exported (raw). We are moving towards
this," Kufuor said.
Ghana's per capita GDP shot up to $1,300 in 2007 from $
400 in 2001, thanks largely to growth in the agriculture
sector, high commodity prices, and the discovery of oil,
which allowed it to reach Lower Middle Income status and
meet the Millennium Development Goals on poverty
reduction ahead of schedule.
"One of the key factors (in Ghana's success) has been
strong political commitment at the highest level," FAO
Ghana representative Lamourdia Thiombiano said in an
interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"They subsidised production, put resources into boosting
capacity and invested in providing services to farmers."
"More production led to relatively better access to food,"
Thiombiano said.
Significant development challenges remain, despite the
improvements in agriculture, and Ghana ranked 138 out of
187 countries surveyed in the U.N. 2014 Human
Development Report.
Today Kufuor, who gives speeches on the U.N. circuit and
runs his own foundation, is optimistic that "rays of hope"
and good policies will continue to improve food security in a
world where one in eight people still suffer from chronic
malnutrition.
Reporting By Chris Arsenault, editing by Tim Pearce
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