Globally, a billion people are impacted by food insecurity and sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence with approximately 23.2% of the population being affected (2). Eradication of Hunger and Achieving Food Security has been identified as one of the priority areas of the African Union Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy (STISA-2024) for attaining the developmental goals of the continent. In sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of food losses occur post-harvest and during processing; the amount currently lost could feed 300 million people. Thus reduction of food loss through adoption of cost-effective innovations will be a critical contributor to ensuring the food availability component of food security and the attainment of sustainable national and continental development. Additionally, improved food safety will positively impact public health, food security and international trade competitiveness.
Although the African economy is largely agro-based, its contribution to economic growth is marginal due to low application of research, science and technology. For example, the Ghanaian food industry is the largest single manufacturing sector; transforming much of the nation’s agricultural produce and employing the most people. Unfortunately, the industry is largely dominated (70%) by small to medium scale enterprises (SMEs) engaged in semi-processing using labor-intensive, time-consuming indigenous technology with minimal technological inputs (Quartey and Darkwah, 2015). These SMEs were developed from the traditional sector and mostly operate at household level or in small to medium sized plants. Consequently, food processing and related activities are dominated by inefficient artisanal processes, low efficiency and productivity, significant food losses, poor product quality and unacceptable food safety issues. Additionally, due to the general informal nature of their operations, there are significant challenges with regards to knowledge transfer, technical research for product development, adoption of good manufacturing practices, quality control, product innovation, and adoption of global standards. Thus the development of an efficient agro-processing sector of the Ghanaian economy will significantly impact the industrial transformation of the largely agriculture-based economy, and will undoubtedly result in expansion of the available market for farmers, improve value addition to agricultural produce and create avenues for employment (Andam et al., 2015).
Ensuring sustainable food availability requires a broader appreciation of the dynamics of African food systems. It has been suggested that climate change, globalization, population growth and urbanization are some of the key factors that drive changes in African food systems (Minde et al, 2012). The trends in rapid population growth and urbanization require transformative changes in food consumption patterns and in the structure of food systems needed to serve them. Traditionally, the majority of food processing within Africa was based on fermented cereals, roots and tubers, vegetables and supplemented with fruits, spices, condiments with some meat or fish. High population growth rates as well as migration from rural communities swelled up urban populations and increased demand for processed foods, packaged convenience foods and prepared foods. Thus, healthy indigenous foods have rapidly been replaced, with imported, highly processed foods which are high in energy but low in food biodiversity and essential nutrients. These diets have also been linked to non-communicable diseases including obesity, hypertension and diabetes due to their poor nutritional profiles. The increased demand for processed, packaged convenience foods requires substantial investments in post-harvest systems including food storage, product design & development, processing, packaging food safety and regulatory issues.
Over the years, Africa has attained improved levels in primary agricultural production but this has not been translated into wealth, safe and high quality foods and improved health outcomes. Innovations in the traditional food delivery systems will serve to transform the current food system making it more sustainable. However, this paradigm shift has major implications for the types of skills needed to meet the changing dynamics of the local food systems. It requires enhancement of research and technical skills necessary for supplying safe, nutritious and quality food to the growing urban markets to ameliorate the human health and nutrition problem. Specific skills are also required to make indigenous food processing technologies more efficient and/or to design systems that will deliver indigenous food products using new technologies. In this regard, knowledge of local food systems will be required to reconstruct and repackage indigenous food products that are more nutritious, safe, and affordable as well as meet local and international quality standards.
Innovate Foodsis focusing on developing innovations to enhance food safety, improve food quality, and minimize post-harvest losses and food wastage within the continent. This will entail research activities to extend and apply knowledge in selected post-harvest value chains to minimize losses, extend shelf life, improve food safety (pathogens and aflatoxins) and contribute to achieving food security.
The research vision of Innovate Foods is to be a leading hub for the training of Food Scientists and Food Process Engineers, equipped with an understanding of how an optimal combination of science, technology, engineering and social systems, can be used to address existing challenges in African food systems (processing, safety and packaging) and thus transform indigenous foods into globally acceptable and competitive products.
Research activities will be aimed at providing deeper knowledge into transforming traditional food processing and associated technologies to promote local entrepreneurship and enhance food and nutrition security within the continent. This will be achieved through targeted training of graduate (MPhil and PhD) students as well as mentoring of Post-Doctoral Fellows. Specifically, it will involve developing (students) or enhancing (Postdoc fellows) technical competencies and research skills for agri-food system transformations in food processing, food safety and quality management systems as well as food packaging and shelf life extension.
Research will be focused in three distinct areas, straddling science and engineering: