The 2020 Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) report has revealed that a total of 3.6 million Ghanaians representing 11.7 per cent of the country’s population are food insecure.
Out of the total, 5.2%, or 1.6 million people, experienced severe food insecurity, while 6.5%, or two million people, experienced moderate food insecurity.
78% of Ghana’s 3.6 million food-insecure people—or 2.8 million people—live in rural areas, while 22%—or 0.8 million people—do so in urban areas.
The report also revealed that 18.2% of the rural population of the nation experienced food insecurity, of which 7.3% experienced severe food insecurity and 10.9% experienced moderate food insecurity.
According to the research, 5.5% of the nation’s urban population experienced food insecurity, of which 3.2% experienced severe food insecurity and 2.3% experienced moderate food insecurity.
The Ghana Statistical Service and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), with technical assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization, produced the report, which was presented in Tamale, which was the most thorough food security assessment yet carried out in the nation.
The report was created using interviews with 67,140 household heads spread throughout 4,476 sample points or enumeration areas from the 260 districts in the nation during November and December 2020.
The 2020 CFSVA offered a thorough and in-depth analysis of the people who were food insecure and vulnerable in the nation, where they lived, how many there were, why they were vulnerable or food insecure, and what could be done to save their lives and livelihoods, how the situation was likely to develop, the risks associated with them, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on food security.
Food security was defined as “all people, at all times, having physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to suit their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” by the 1999 World Food Summit.
According to the research, all regions—aside from one—Oti—had a population of more than 100,000 people who were food insecure, demonstrating that this issue was actually a national one on a regional basis.
According to the research, the majority of the country’s hungry people resided in the north, with 18% in the Upper East Region, 17% in the Northern Region, and 13% in the Ashanti Region.
With a rate of 49%, the region with the highest prevalence of food insecurity was the Upper East. The North-East and Northern both had rates of food insecurity that were higher than 30% (at 33% and 31%, respectively).
This indicated that male-headed households had a higher rate of food insecurity (14.1%) than did female-headed households (9.5 per cent).
Overall, there was a larger prevalence of food insecurity among “migrant households” (15.9%) than non-migrant households, and it also appeared that the higher the household head’s educational degree, the lower the prevalence of household food insecurity (11.1 per cent).
It urged the MoFA to properly and effectively coordinate and harmonize food and nutrition security efforts, particularly in the country’s north.
The document also emphasized the need to “improve the community and household resilience, especially during the lean season as households often face economic hardship during these periods in the northern part of Ghana.” It also called for the promotion and adoption of climate-smart agricultural activities. This could be accomplished via supporting livelihood activities for the impacted communities as well as the seasonal implementation of cash transfers tied to Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty.
In order to promote the intake of nutritious meals that are readily available locally and specialized healthy foods, Ms Barbara Clemens, WFP Country Director and Representative urged nutrition education and social behaviour change communication at the community level.
Government statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim emphasized the need for all parties to carefully review the report and develop workable solutions to address the results.
A MoFA spokesman thanked the partners for their technical and financial assistance in carrying out the study.