Kumasi, March 27, GNA- The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) branch of the Ghana Association of Agricultural Students (GAAS) on Friday launched its 24th annual green week celebrations in Kumasi. The weeklong celebration has the theme: "Preparedness for an effective and sustainable response to food and agricultural emergencies: Food security in Ghana".

Mr Emmanuel Newman, Planning Officer at the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), said food security in Ghana and other African countries were being threatened by armed conflicts, environmental disasters and degradation.

He called for institutional and political arrangements to respond to emergencies that could lead to food insecurity in the country. Mr Newman appealed to universities and agricultural research institutions to develop technologies that would help the country to store more food for the future.

He also urged them to develop drought and disease resistant crops to ensure abundant food supply in the country at all times. Mr William Kodwin, an agricultural economist at the Ashanti regional office of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said one of the problems facing the country's agriculture was its inability to store food reserves. He appealed to the private sector to take the lead in the provision of the storage facilities.

The Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, KNUST, Professor Daniel Boye Okai, said the school had positioned itself to produce high quality human resource personnel to contribute to food security in the country. Mr Carl Selassie Adzraku, President of KNUST branch of GAAS, called for effective measures to ensure food security in the co