Accra, Dec. 20, – The Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says the business opportunities in their Sector
could create about 80 million jobs in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
by 2030.
Dr Abebe HaileGabriel, the FAO
Representative to Ghana, said this would be around two per cent of the
forecasted size of the labour force in 2030.
Dr Abebe was speaking at a day’s
forum on leveraging private sector investment for food security and nutrition
in Ghana in the context of SDGs in Accra.
The forum organised jointly by
FAO and the Private Enterprise Federation (PEF) is to create a shared
understanding of the implications of the 2030 Agenda for food security and
nutrition in Ghana and also create shared understanding of the important role
of the private sector in contributing to the SDGs, with particular focus on how
business contributions can accelerate progress in advancing Food Security and
Nutrition.
It is also to provide a platform
for business, investors, Government, and civil society organisations to explore
new pathways for enhancing the impact of business contributions to achieving
Food and Nutrition Security, inspire action in support of the SDGs by business
– both as individual companies, enterprises and in partnership with others and
identify priorities for support and collaboration.
He said the private sector would
be crucial to delivering the SDGs and there were potentially over $2.3 trillion
of business opportunities related to the sector.
The FAO Representative said the
realisation of the business opportunities in the food system could also help
deliver a wide-range of societal benefit including; job creation, benefit of
food security, poverty alleviation, climate change mitigation and waste
reduction and health outcomes.
He said according to a study
conducted by the Business and Sustainable Development Commission in 2016,
business opportunities in implementation of the SDGs related to food and
agriculture could worth over $2.3 trillion annually for the private sector by
2030.
He said harnessing the above
mentioned business opportunities would require new approaches and development
of new business models.
“Private sector engagement with
public policy will be critical to fully capture the value of many of the SDGs
opportunities to ensure the requisite policy tools were in place,” he added.
He said the private sector would
also need to understand the potential opportunities emerging from the SDGs
areas in their sector and how to better partner government, civil society
organisations and other stakeholders on developing new solutions, thereby
turning public-private partnership into business opportunities.
Dr Abebe said the two organisations
organised the forum to create awareness on the many business opportunities that
the private sector stands to gain from engaging in the implementation of the
SDGs and more importantly in addressing hunger and malnutrition.
Ms Kosi Antwiwaa Yankey, the
Acting Executive Director of the National Board for Small Scale Industries
(NBSSI), said it was important that the private sector g0t on board to know the
business opportunities that were in the SDGs.
“A lot of private sector players
need to take advantage of the business opportunities and grow their
businesses,” she added.
She said the year had been
successful for the NBSSI, since government released some funds to boost
business growth in the SME area and they have also been able to foster some relationships
with other partners to support them develop and create about 400 plus jobs.
“We have also initiated and
strengthened our apprentice programme and next year will pledge to do more for
the small and medium enterprises.
Mr Moses Agyemang, Senior
Economist, PEF called on government together with stakeholders to endeavour to
achieve the SDGs as compared to what the country achieved with the MDGs.
He called on stakeholders to
address the challenges of sharing information with each other to grow their
businesses.
GNA
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