11 November 2014, Rome – Political leadership is critical in the fight against hunger, President of the Republic of Ghana John Dramani Mahama said today at FAO following a meeting with its Director-General, José Graziano da Silva.

“Food security is a challenge for many countries and once we came together as a world to set specific targets to reduce hunger and malnutrition by 2015, the political leadership of Ghana from the presidents before me made it a priority to increase investments in agriculture,” he said noting the contribution of Ghana’s former presidents Jerry John Rawlings, John Kufuor and John Evans Atta Mills.

Today, Ghana has achieved both the Millennium Development Goal 1 hunger target and the World Food Summit goals. President Mahama thanked FAO and its leadership for the support provided to Ghana over the years. He welcomed the transformational changes led by the Director-General and expressed continued support to Graziano da Silva and the Organization.

Ghana, host of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER)

The Ebola crisis hit several African states at the height of the agricultural season, leaving most people unable to harvest their crops, Mahama,  who is also the Chair of the Economic Community of West African Sates (ECOWAS), noted. “There is going to be a major problem of food security and the FAO has a major role to play,” he said.

FAO is helping to ensure food security and re-establishing the livelihood of communities in countries worst affected while the World Food Programme is already assisting with humanitarian relief supplies.

“Our philosophy is that the best way to avoid being affected by Ebola is helping countries that are affected by it to contain it,” the President said. “That is why we offered Accra, our capital, to be the operational base for all the international organizations engaged in the international response.”

Accra is also hosting the FAO Regional Office for Africa, for which new premises have been recently granted to the organization.

ICN2: Sharing best nutrition practices

FAO Director-General talks with President also touched upon the upcoming 2nd International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), the first, high-level global event to focus on the nutrition challenges of the 21^st century. The conference, jointly organized by FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO), will take place at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, 19-21 November.

“I believe that in a globalized world, we are all each other’s brother’s keeper and it’s something that should concern us,” the President noted.

VIDEO | Remarks by the President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama.