The Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Nutrition and Food Security (CONFSEC) has urged the citizenry to consume more fruits and vegetables as a sure way to healthy living and to prevent diseases.

“We are encouraging Ghanaians to adopt backyard organic farming of fruits and veggies for consumption for a healthy life,” they stated.

This was in a release jointly issued by Jane Oku and Kekesi Defor, who are both members of CONFSEC to observe the National Fruits and Veggies Week 2023 on the theme: “Grow your veggies, Eat Your Veggies, and Grow in Good Health” as part of the commemoration of this year’s World Food Day.

The observation of the Fruits and Vegetables Week runs from Monday, October 16 to Sunday, October 22, 2023.

The week is held annually worldwide in connection with World Food Day to promote good health.

The release stated: “No matter where you look, the food we consume is getting farther away from nature. Grocery store shelves are filled with processed foods with preservatives and additives that are hard to pronounce."

“When you think about the effect this type of diet can have on your health, it’s troubling. It’s of little wonder the rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases have increased steadily over the last few years in Ghana."

“But it’s not too late to start bringing your diet more in line with nature, and that means eating more fruits and vegetables because fruits and vegetables are a great source of vitamins and minerals, has lots of fibre, low-calorie, low-fat, protects against cancer and other diseases.”

The release pointed out that fruits and vegetables generally help to maintain good health because they are low in saturated fat, salt, and sugar, adding fruits and vegetables is part of a well-balanced diet that can help lose weight or prevent weight gain.

World Food Day was celebrated under the theme: “Water is life, Water is Food. Leave no one behind,” and as a result, the release stated how food produced affects water and that together Ghanaians can take water action for food and be the change.

It stated that data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey shows that 76 percent of household water in Ghana is contaminated at the point of use and to mitigate the impact of poor access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene on child nutrition outcomes, the WASH sector must increase investments on nutrition-sensitive interventions.

“These interventions include food hygiene promotion, household water treatment and safe storage, and community-based sanitation interventions,” it pointed out.

The release said according to UNICEF Ghana, child and maternal malnutrition is the largest single health risk factor in Ghana and that to address malnutrition among children of school-going age, the education sector must increase investment in interventions to address their nutritional needs.

It stated that for the government to resolve the widespread and growing problem of food insecurity, and to reduce its reliance on donor funding, it needs to increase its spending on a broad set of nutrition-sensitive interventions within the agriculture sector.

“These interventions include food price policies for promoting healthy diets, food safety, and aflatoxin prevention, food marketing and advertising practices, food fortification, and the diversification and sustainable intensification of agriculture production,” it said.

"The Government should introduce expenditure lines for sub-programs that cover nutrition interventions, with a common budget code, that will better facilitate monitoring of expenditure for high-impact interventions that are crucial for children’s development, and for their long-term productivity, the release urged.