Nearly three million Ghanaians face food insecurity – GSS

About three million people in Ghana remain vulnerable to poor or borderline food consumption despite signs of national resilience, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has said.

The Food Insecurity Vulnerability Report, produced under the Mobile Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (mVAM) Survey, showed that 91 per cent of households, equating to nearly 30 million people, reported acceptable food consumption levels nationwide.

The survey, conducted by the GSS in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and partners, covered 9,000 households across all 16 regions using a telephone-based method from October to December 2025.

Dr Alhassan Iddrisu, Government Statistician, presenting the findings in Accra, said the national average concealed significant regional and demographic disparities, with rising vulnerabilities in specific areas and among certain groups.

He noted that nearly one in three households relied on medium to high coping strategies to manage food stress, while one in four had resorted to crisis or emergency measures such as reducing meal quality and quantity, borrowing, selling assets and cutting back on non-food essentials.

“This means many households are managing today by sacrificing tomorrow,” he cautioned.

The report revealed that food insecurity was concentrated in the northern belt, particularly the North East, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions, where nearly 40 per cent of households were affected.

It further indicated that education was a protective factor, with households lacking formal education up to ten times more vulnerable than those with tertiary education.

Dr Iddrisu called for targeted interventions, stressing that coping strategies served as early warning signals and that delaying responses until food consumption collapsed would be too late.

He noted that only 1.5 per cent of households currently benefit from social protection or food assistance, a level he described as insufficient.

The report advocated scaling up social protection programmes, investing in resilience-building measures such as climate-smart agriculture, diversified livelihoods, stronger food systems and improved market functioning.

Dr Iddrisu emphasised that while Ghana was not facing a nationwide food crisis, failure to act decisively could worsen vulnerabilities.

“The real danger is not just what the data shows today, but what happens if we delay, if we generalise, and if we fail to act with precision,” he said.

Source: GNA