The Center for Climate Change and Food Security (CCCFS) has called on government to implement actionable plans to reverse the tide of high food prices and growing food insecurity in Ghana.

The NGO projects that more Ghanaians could fall into the trap of being food insecure, with the poor becoming poorer if immediate actions are not taken.

This was contained in a release by CCCFS, signed by the Deputy Director of Research, Food and Nutrition Security, Jacob Sarfo, on the occasion of “World Food Day”.

The celebration, under the theme, “Leave no one behind,” is to promote awareness and action in support of those affected by hunger.

Ghana’s general populace, like many parts of the world, is facing high levels of food insecurity, attributed to the global crises - COVID-19, the Ukraine-Russia war, the climate crisis, the soaring fuel, and food prices, among others.

And according to CCCFS, the situation requires, more than ever, the need for governments to protect the poor and vulnerable as they are at the receiving end of these crises.

The release said Ghana Statistical Service 2022 report on Food Security and Vulnerability, “shows a sobering 3.6 million Ghanaians representing 11.6% of our population are food insecure. More worrying is that almost 80% of the food insecure population are in rural areas, the already poor and vulnerable.”

“With ongoing global crises and what is being experienced on the local front, including rising inflation (currently at 37.2%), high food prices (according to the World Bank, Ghana recorded the highest increase in food prices (122%) in sub-Saharan Africa since the beginning of 2022) and droughts caused by climate change, CCCFS projects more Ghanaians to fall into the trap of being food insecure with the poor becoming poorer”. 

“We would like to reiterate the extensive consequences of illegal mining, popularly known as “galamsey,” on our food security targets. With reports of farmers abandoning farming to be galamseyers and the impact of harmful chemicals from Galamsey in our soils and water bodies, our food production levels are projected to be low, unable to meet our food security needs and eventually exacerbate hunger and poverty,”, the release further stated.

Because of these, CCCFS proposes the following actions for consideration by the government:

1. The government should deepen its agricultural investment efforts, especially its planting for food and jobs initiative, to shore up food production and provide more employment opportunities.

2. There must be a bold step to reverse the country’s food import dependence by moving away from being a net importer of food to avoid being heavily affected by exogenous shocks as witnessed currently.

3. The government must tackle the Galamsey menace head-on by bringing to book everyone involved, including political apparatchiks. 

4. The government's social intervention programs must be deepened and expanded to cover the many people, especially the poor and vulnerable, affected by the ongoing global and local crises.

The release, however, assured of CCCFS's commitment to work with the government and other agencies to ensure that, indeed, no Ghanaian is left behind in fighting hunger and poverty.