Sustainable Food Systems Summit

Good morning. I am happy to add a few words after then more substantive words from my colleagues in FAO and WFP. I’ll begin with a small story, but also with a stark warning from the global stage.

Just a few weeks ago, I was at the Nima Market, speaking with Salamatu, who has been selling tomatoes for thirty years. She described her recent struggles: longer dry spells, rising costs, and the heartbreak of seeing her produce go bad. She asked me a powerful question: “When you all have your big meetings in Accra, will you remember us?”

That pained me, but I needed that brave and pointed challenge from the very person I strive to serve.

Salamatu’s struggle is a microcosm of a global crisis. As our Secretary-General so powerfully stated at the recent Global Summit, “In a world of plenty, it is outrageous that people continue to suffer and die from hunger.” He laid bare the truth: “Global food systems are broken — and billions of people are paying the price.”

We see this in the sobering statistics:

• More than 780 million people go hungry while one-third of all food is lost or wasted.

• More than three billion people cannot afford healthy diets.

• Here in Africa, one in five people is going hungry—more than twice the global average.

And we feel it here in Ghana, in the struggles of our farmers and the rising anxiety of our families. The termination of the Black Sea Initiative has already caused global wheat and corn prices to spike, and as the Secretary-General warned, “When food prices rise, everybody pays for it... but this is especially devastating for vulnerable countries struggling to feed their people.” 

In Ghana persistent domestic challenges like supply chain inefficiencies and forex pressures continue to keep food prices high.

So, Salamatu, we remember you. This summit is our answer. But it is an answer that must be louder, more unified, and more urgent than ever before.

The Secretary-General’s call to action is our agenda today. He called for urgent action in three key areas, and we must translate them into a Ghanaian context:

First, we need a massive investment in sustainable and resilient food systems.
“Starving food systems of investment means, quite literally, starving people.” We echo his urgent call for an SDG Stimulus to scale up affordable long-term financing. This is essential to build systems that can withstand shocks, and support those, like the women fish processors in Elmina with their climate-smart ovens, who I plan to visit later this month. Long term financing will also ensure that innovators, youth, and farmers can access the capital they need to thrive.

Second, we must build systems that put people over profit.

This means keeping markets open, removing trade barriers, and leveraging technology to lower the cost of nutritious food. It means supporting the women and men who bring our food systems to life. It means ensuring that the prosperity driven by our food systems, which represent 10% of the global economy, is shared with those who drive it—our smallholders, our market women, our youth entrepreneurs, and our transporters.

Third, we need food systems that help end the war on our planet.

Our food systems contribute a third of all greenhouse gas emissions. Transforming them is essential to limit global warming. We must demand stronger, faster climate action and commit to nature-positive production that reduces the unsustainable use of land and water. It’s an environmental imperative. And an economic imperative, for a nation whose prosperity is rooted in its natural wealth.

The Secretary-General reminded us that “broken food systems are not inevitable. They are the result of choices we have made.” Today, we must choose differently.

The good news is that Ghana is responding to this alarm. Over 100 countries have submitted progress reports on food systems transformation, and Ghana is among those taking decisive steps. Programmes such as the Feed Ghana Programme (FGP), the National Nutrition Policy, and Ghana’s Food Systems Pathway provide a strong national framework for responding to the challenges facing the country’s food system. The diversity in this room is proof of that commitment.

But as the Secretary-General concluded, “Transforming food systems requires all hands on deck.” It requires the government to champion integrated policies. It requires financiers to invest boldly in the real economy. It requires researchers and academia to generate evidence and innovation. It requires private sector actors to scale technologies and solutions. And it requires smallholder farmers and communities to be inclusive in the decisions we make and at the centre of this transformation.

The United Nations family in Ghana is your committed partner in this essential effort. We are here to facilitate, support, and amplify this work. We are highlighting actions that can help policy and decision-makers deliver impact across food systems for better human, animal, and planetary health. We are providing guidance and tools in different areas of work, including fiscal policies and regulation of marketing. Agencies such as FAO, WFP, IFAD, UNEP, UNICEF, UNDP, WHO, and UN-Habitat, to mention a few, are supporting in diverse ways. Let me use this opportunity to thank UN Global Compact and partners for bringing us together.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us leave here today with a renewed pact. Let us transform our choices into actions. Let us ensure that when we meet again, we can tell Salamatu that our meeting was about her, that change is on the way, and that we are building a food system that is sustainable, equitable, and just for all Ghanaians.

Let us also remember the Secretary-General’s final, crucial point: for Ghana and other countries to achieve these goals, “it is absolutely essential to massively scale up debt relief and guarantee long-term investments.” This is the foundation upon which our success is built. I look forward to the outcome document that will come out of this gathering. 

Ghana has the people, the innovation, and the partnerships to lead food systems transformation on the continent. If we work together, Ghana can become a model for Africa and the world — where no one goes hungry, where farmers prosper, and where our natural wealth is safeguarded for future generations.

Medaase pa. (Thank you very much.)