Food security in Ghana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Food security in Ghana - Essay Example Government responses to these challenges will also be discussed whereby it will be concluded that a lot of efforts are to be made if food security in Ghana is to be achieved. In general, the purpose of this essay is to discuss global food crises using Ghana as a case study Introduction Food security can be defined as the availability of sustainable food supply accessible to all citizens regardless of their social or economic backgrounds. Unfortunately, it has been observed that a significant number of people worldwide have continued to face food shortages with reports indicating that more than 850 million people are suffering from extreme hunger, which to a greater extent, has been blamed on poverty. It is sad to note that children are the most vulnerable and according to world statistics, more than six million of them are losing their lives every year, translating to approximately 17000 deaths per day (Shaw, 2010). To some extent, food insecurity in the world has been brought about by urbanization whereby people have neglected subsistence farming in rural areas in favor of white collar and technical jobs available in urban areas. It is estimated that 50% of world’s population are currently residing in urban areas, with youths and able bodied men and women leaving the weak and the aged population in the rural areas to participate in food production. This coupled with the rising costs of production especially due to increased fuel prices have contributed significantly in the cost of acquiring food stuff. For example, global wheat prices rose by 56% in September 2010 while the general food price index rose by 17% in the same year (Shaw, 2010). This has forced the management of the Global Food Crisis Response Program to extend its mandate to June 2011, hoping that the situation will have stabilized by then. This essay is a critical evaluation of food security in Ghana. Food Security in Ghana As earlier mentioned, food insecurity is a phenomenon that is cont inuing to pose a challenge for majority of citizens around the world, especially in the underdeveloped as well as the developing countries. A country such as Ghana for example has been facing insufficient food supplies mostly due to the fact that food production is highly based on availability of sufficient rainfall. This has made it a common problem to find that food is produced in large quantities during the rainy season but shortages persist during the dry season especially in the northern part of the country, which suffers drought mostly in the season between the months of February and July (IFAD, n.d). In this context, it has been observed that cultivating grains such as wheat and maize among others, which take a long time to mature, is not viable to the poor farmers and this has necessitated huge importation of grains to sustain their demand. For example, the government imported rice worth $100 million in 2010, with cereal imports supplementing food requirement by 4.7% (Bruce, 2010). However, it has also been observed that communities which are favored with sufficient rainfall to guarantee food production are not assisting much to alleviate the problem. This is due to the fact that the government has failed to invest in storage facilities which, coupled with poverty, force rural farmers to sell their produce immediately after harvesting so as to supplement their financial needs as well as to prevent their food