Director of Operations at GSS, Dr. Peter Takyi Peprah
Approximately, 12 percent of households nationwide, constituting 3.6 million, are food insecure, a report on a “Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA)” survey by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and its partners, has said.
It said female-headed households both in the rural and urban areas were more food secure than male-headed households.
The report was analysed based on food availability, accessibility, utilisation, and stability.
Dr. Peter Takyi Peprah, the Director of Operations, GSS, and Coordinator of the CFSVA Project breaking down the statistics on food insecurity said the Upper East Region was (48.7 percent), North East (33.0 percent), Northern (0.7 percent), Upper West (22.8 percent), Savannah (22.6 percent), Ahafo (17.3 percent), and Bono East (16.7 percent).
The Western North region was (13.1 percent), Bono (12.2 percent), Volta (9.9 percent), Oti (8.0 percent), Eastern (7.9 percent), Ashanti (6.2 percent), Western (5.1 percent), Central (3.8 percent) and Greater Accra (3.5 percent).
He presented the report on Tuesday together with other partners -the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the Canadian High Commission.
Dr. Peprah described food insecurity as a situation of limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (2000).
The CFSVA, he said, would address the SDGs ‘1’ (No Poverty), ‘2’ (End hunger and address undernourishment among mothers and children), and ‘3’ to ensure that people lived healthy lives and reduced child mortality to raise life expectance.
During data gathering, the report targeted 67,140 households in all 260 districts across the 16 regions.
It, however, achieved a 97.3 percent National Level Response rate, which is 65,309 households.
The 10 worse off insecure districts, according to the report, are Kassena Nankana West, Karaga, Builsa South, Tatale, Bolgatanga East, Kumbungu, Jirapa, Chereponi, Tempane, and Bongo.
The drivers of food insecurity identified, he said, included sex of head of households, education of household heads, size of household, livelihood groups, wealth, migrant-sending states, adoption of coping strategies, expenditure on food, access to land, and a number of days households ate diverse food.
Dr. Peprah recommended that there should be the development of all-year-round irrigation and mechanisation schemes to support large and small-scale farming to engender all-year-round food production.
It also asked that nutrition education and social behavioural change communication at the community level be promoted to increase the consumption of locally available nutritious foods and specialised nutritious foods.
Madam Barbara Clemens, the Country Director of the World Food Programme, asked for technical assistance from the partners to maintain a strategic humanitarian footprint towards the promotion of food security.
She said collecting data from all over the country for the first time was going to contribute towards achieving the zero hunger SDG and sustainable development.
Mr. Ndiaga Gueye, the FAO Country Representative, Country Office, Director of FAO, said the challenges of securing food had been worsened by COVID-19 and exposed the weaknesses in the country’s food systems.
It, was, therefore, important for countries to focus on their food security and nutrition, he said, and gave an assurance that the FAO would assist in eliminating hunger.
He expressed joy that the report ascertained the food safety status across the country for effective policy action and disaster management.
It would also help to identify the vulnerable in society in order to support them.
Mr. Gueye lauded the GSS and the partners for the hard work to generate an operational strategy to strengthen Ghana's food system.
As part of its mandate, Reverend John Nortey, Statistics of Research and Information, MoFA, said the Ministry would ensure the adequacy of food and ensure that the needed nutrition for every citizen was provided.
He noted that food and nutrition security was the key to national development and appealed for support from development partners and civil society organisations to protect the food system.