Ghana and other African countries are being urged to review their food security strategies.
Ghana and its African neighbors have been urged to reconsider their agricultural and food security strategies in order to reduce their reliance on other countries around the world.
According to the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES & Africa), this became necessary following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which revealed significant gaps in the continent's agriculture and food security strategies.
"The Ukraine crisis showed Africa that food security is an issue because we rely on Ukraine for several things and Europe for several things," said Dr Tidiane Ouattara, the Coordinator of GMES. It means that Africa must reconsider its agricultural and food security strategy."
He stated that data acquisition and processing had become more than critical because it was a pillar for decision makers to develop good policies and have appropriate interventions, which space science and technology provided.
Dr. Ouattara made the remarks during a workshop in Accra on best practices in data acquisition and processing as a means of addressing scientists' and citizens' daily needs, as well as national development issues.
"We need to talk about best practices and how we can complement each other." "We are stronger together, and Africa should speak one language," he said.
Dr. Kwame Agyekum, Marine Remote Sensing Scientist, added that data was critical for Africa in harnessing its resources for the benefit of citizens and national development.
"You realize that Africa is endowed with a lot of resources," he said. We have large oceans and extremely fertile land. We've realized that we need to manage these resources, but first we need to gather information about them."
Dr. Agyekum stated that this was accomplished through collaboration between the African Union (AU) and the European Union, and that the meeting was held to allow stakeholders to strategize and "take advantage of data to make good use of our resources."
The African Union Commission hosted the first Continental Service Workshop on Coastal and Marine Services of GMES & Africa, which was attended by key implementers and partners.
University of Ghana (UG), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Regional Economic Communities, and European Technical Institutions are among them.
The GMES & Africa phase II program is a continuation of the first phase, with the goal of building on the first phase's accomplishments.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the five African Regional Economic Communities, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA, the GMES & Africa Project Management Unit, and African Union Commission Departments.
Other European Partners included the European Commission's Directorate for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs (DG-GROW), the European Space Agency, the European Organization for Meteorological Satellite Exploitation, and the Joint Research Centre.
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