1.2 Million Ghanaians Have Limited Access to Good Food

More than 1.2 million Ghanaians wake up each day with no surety of getting food to eat.This means they have limited access to sufficient and nutritious food throughout the year, says a study undertaken by the United Nations World Food Programme and the Ghana Statistical Service.

The Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) survey, which is the first of its king in Ghana points out that the Upper West Region, where 34 percent of the population are food insecure is tops the chart, followed by the Upper East Region with 15 percent, while Northern Region follows with ten percent. The CFSVA findings all, but confirm the well documented fact that the three northern regions are worse hit by povert0y.

The study which was launched on Wednesday found that in the rural areas of the three northern regions some 500,000 people were found to be at risk, while 1.5 million people living in the remaining seven regions of Ghana face a similar fate.

The study further found that two million people countrywide are at risk of becoming food insecure during the lean season or at the onset of a shock, natural or man made disaster. "On the national level, the most food- insure people are the smallholder food crop farmers who represent a quarter of the population and have an average daily income of GH?2.65 and the poverty threshold of GH?1.48."

According to the study the main causes of food insecurity in the country are: poverty, reliance on traditional and often inefficient agricultural practices, limited markets for farm produce, high food prices, lack of education, besides other hazards such as bad weather conditions.

The survey recommended that immediate interventions be made to address the malnutrition and ill-health among women and children. Besides, there should be an expansion of preventive healthcare interventions, strengthening existing monitoring measures to detect deterioration in people's welfare etc.