NPP 2024 Manifesto: Claim that Gov’t improved food security false

In the 2024 New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) manifesto, the party highlights 72 achievements attributed to President Akufo-Addo’s administration. Among these, the manifesto states that “Ghana’s economy under the NPP has made positive strides, recent challenges notwithstanding.”

One of the claims, listed as point 48, asserts that through its flagship agricultural initiatives, the government has improved food security in Ghana.

Fact-Check Ghana has verified this claim and presents the findings below.

Claim: “Improved food security through the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs,’ ‘Rearing for Food and Jobs,’ ‘One Village, One Dam,’ and ‘One District, One Warehouse’ initiatives.”

Verdict: False

Explanation: According to the government, the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme was launched in 2017 to boost food production and create jobs within the agricultural sector. Its focus was on providing farmers with affordable seeds, fertilizers, extension services, and access to markets. This initiative was reportedly aimed at ensuring food security and reducing unemployment, with smallholder farmers being its primary beneficiaries.

The One Village, One Dam initiative, also launched in 2017, sought to improve agricultural production in northern Ghana through the provision of small irrigation dams. The government said the dams were intended to ensure year-round water supply for farming, particularly during the dry season, thus supporting small-scale farmers in the northern regions.

Similarly, the One District, One Warehouse initiative, introduced in 2017, was designed to complement the PFJ program by addressing post-harvest storage challenges. The initiative focused on constructing warehouses in each district to store surplus produce, stabilize food prices, reduce waste, and facilitate more effective food distribution.

Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ), introduced in 2019, was aimed at increasing domestic meat production and reducing Ghana’s reliance on imported livestock products. The program supported farmers by providing livestock, technical assistance, and veterinary services to expand production, particularly in poultry, cattle, and small ruminants.

While these programmes have had certain benefits, the claim that they have improved food security in Ghana is inaccurate.

According to the United Nations Committee on World Food Security, food security means that all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary preferences for a healthy life.

The Global Food Security Index, which ranks 113 countries based on the affordability, availability, quality, and safety of food, shows that Ghana has not seen consistent improvement in food security under the Akufo-Addo administration.

Ghana’s rankings in the Global Food Security Index from 2013 to 2022 are as follows:

*2022 is the latest report by the Global Food Security Index

From the above, it is clear that with the exception of 2019, Ghana has not shown much progress in food security, despite the interventions by the government. The data clearly indicates that Ghana has faced significant challenges in ensuring the availability, affordability, and safety of food. Based on that, the NPP’s claim of improved food security under the Akufo-Addo administration is false.