SENIOR EXPERTS GROUP OF THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR

RESILIENCE (SEG-AGIR)

STATEMENT BY GHANA ON APPROPRIATE MEASURES TO START

THE

NATIONAL RESILIENCE PRIORITIES (NRPs) PROCESS

Abuja, Nigeria-December 14, 2016

MR. CHAIRMAN

Ministers of Agriculture from West Africa and the Sahel

INVITED GUESTS,

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

It is a great pleasure to attend this all important meeting on behalf of the Hon.

Minister who could not make it due to other national assignments.

In spite of an overall improvement in food production and productivity, Food and

nutrition crises are becoming more frequent in the Sahel and West Africa. Significant

number of people face food insecurity and malnutrition on an almost permanent basis,

regardless of whether harvests are good. To prevent the region from being hit by crisis

year after year, much greater attention needs to be given to building the resilience of

the most vulnerable population groups – for example, by making basic services

available to nursing mothers and their children during the first two years of their

lives, or by ensuring that aid programmes prioritise assistance to the most vulnerable

people.

This is necessary because policies to sharpen agricultural development in this region

are meant to be inclusive.

The idea of an international alliance bringing together governments of the region,

regional organizations and their international partners, as well as civil society is

indeed a welcome initiative and commendable.

I wish to state categorically that Ghana is duly committed to the objectives of the

Global Alliance for Resilience Initiative which aims at helping countries build

resilience to recurrent food and nutrition crisis. An objective that synchronises with

Ghana's food and nutrition policy objectives.

Actions already implemented:

identification of stakeholders and formation of national food and nutrition security

working group

key policies and programmes to analyse per sector identified

What are the next steps?

The provisional road map for the AGIR process for Ghana need to be

reviewed as follows:

- Setting up of thematic work groups – January, 2017

- Thematic group work sessions, collation and validation – Feb/March, 2017

- National Resilience Priorities formulation workshops – April, 2017

- NRPs validation workshop – May, 2017

I wish to take this opportunity to again reiterate Ghana's commitment to the ideals of

the AGIR process to develop our NRPs and again appeal for the necessary technical

and financial support to the country during this crucial phase of the process.

Thanks very much for your attention!