MoFA report: 2.4 million Ghanaians face food insecurity despite interventions

About 2.4 million Ghanaians, representing 7.4 per cent of the population, are currently vulnerable to food insecurity, according to a new report by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).

The report, titled “Summary of 2025 March Food and Nutrition Security Situation in Ghana”, was released last Friday, May 2, 2025.

It draws on data from the Cadre Harmonisé (CH) analysis and projects that the number of food-insecure individuals is expected to decline to approximately 2 million people, about 6.3 per cent of the population, between June and August 2025.

The projected decline, according to the report, is based on ongoing government interventions in agriculture and public health.

The analysis was carried out by MoFA’s Statistics, Research, and Information Directorate (SRID) with technical support from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS). It assessed food security conditions across multiple regions.

Due to limited resources, the March 2025 CH assessment covered 71 districts in the northern part of the country instead of the initially planned 96.

In addition, a representative sample of 130 districts across 10 regions in the southern and middle belts was included.

The data collected focused on food consumption patterns, livelihood changes, and five main drivers of food insecurity: exposure to hazards, vulnerability, food availability, access, use, and stability.

Information from the first-quarter 2025 Food and Nutrition Security Monitoring System survey was also incorporated into the analysis.

The report calls for targeted support through programmes such as the Feed Ghana Programme and the Aqua-Cage Fish Project, particularly in districts classified under emergency (phase 4) and crisis (phase 3) conditions.

It also recommends extending assistance to populations facing stress-level conditions (phase 2) to help prevent their situation from worsening.

Post-analysis quality checks suggest that Ghana continues to perform better than most countries in the West African sub-region, with the exception of Côte d’Ivoire and Benin.

The report also indicated that people facing acute food insecurity should be urgently linked to social protection programmes to cushion them from economic shocks.