AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY IN GHANA

Abstract.

In Ghana, large-scale farms and plantations produce mainly oil palm, rubber and coconut and to a lesser extent, maize, rice and pineapples. Ghana produces 51% of its cereal needs, 60% of fish requirements, 50% of meat, and less than 30% of the raw materials needed for agro-based industries. Gross domestic product has grown between 4 and 8 percent annually over the past decade, and agricultural growth has been the major driver of poverty reduction. The agriculture sector is the largest source of employment for Ghanaians and is dominated by smallholder farmers. The challenges in the agriculture sector are in the dimensions of diversity in agro-ecology and constraints including human resource and managerial skills, natural resource management, technology development and food insecurity. Food security is a complex phenomenon resulting from multiple causes which are food availability, food accessibility, food utilization and food stability. About 5% of Ghana‘s population are food insecure and about 2 million people are vulnerable to become food insecure. Agricultural growth has been more rapid than growth in the non-agricultural sectors in recent years, expanding by an average annual rate of 5.5%, compared to 5.2% for the economy as a whole. However, agricultural growth heavily depends on rainfall patterns and current growth is still driven by land expansion. The objective of this paper was to review literature on the general agricultural trends and challenges in Ghana. Food insecurity, and some policy plans to reduce food insecurity were also highlighted.