GSS data: 3.6 million Ghanaians are food insecure
The findings indicated that, rural food insecurity is relatively higher compared to urban areas and also male headed households are more food insecure than female headed homes in both rural and urban areas, it says in rural Ghana, 16% female are household heads and 20% are male heads while in Urban areas, 5% are female and 7% are male heads.
Some 3.6 million people living in Ghana representing 12% of the country’s population are said to be food insecure.
This is according to a survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and the Ministry of Foods and Agriculture (MoFA) with technical and financial assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The survey, “Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA)” was conducted in 2020 and it involved some 65,300 households in 260 districts across the 16 regions of Ghana.
This was disclosed by authorities of the various agencies during a dissemination workshop in Ho last week.
Findings also indicated that, educational level of heads of households is stronger predictor of food security and this showed that, 23% of heads are not educated, 20% of them had pre-school education, 13% had primary school, 8% middle school, 6% of secondary education and 3% had tertiary education.
On economic factor, the findings indicated that, households reliant on agriculture and remittances or working unskilled jobs are more likely to food insecure and out of the 65,300 households, 30% of households are into livestock, 20% into crop production, 15% into unskilled labour, 11% into remittance, 11% into fishing, 6% into trading, 5% having skilled labour and only 3% are salary workers.
The findings further revealed that, out of the 260 districts where the survey was conducted, food insecurity is worse in some ten areas and these are Kassena-Nankana West of Upper East with 78.8 % of it’s population being food insecure, Karaga in Northern region with 75.9%, Builsa South of Upper East with 74.5%.
It continued with, 68.4% in Tatale district of Northern region, Upper East’s Bolgatanga East with 66.3%, Kumbungu in Northern region with 61.2%, Jirapa in Upper West region with 61.0%, Chereponi with 60.3% in the North East region, Tempane with 59.2% in Upper East region and Bongo municipal in Upper East region again with 57.3% respectively.
Meanwhile, between 2009 and 2020 Ghana’s food insecurity has increased from 450,000 to 4.6 million respectively, representing 11% increment.
Albert Kuzor
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