By Godsway Kugbey
Ghana’s food system looks different depending on where the measurement is taken. Output at the national level looks encouraging: average production of major food crops grew substantially between 2019-2021 and 2022-2024, with soybeans up 50.49%, yam up 22.34%, and paddy rice up 25.54% (SRID/MoFA, 2025). At the level of household food security, the picture is more challenging: 38.1% of Ghanaians were food insecure in the third quarter of 2025 (GSS, 2026), and the share of households with underweight children under five and experiencing food insecurity rose from 38.0% to 44.9% over 2024 alone (GSS, 2025). In terms of nutritional status, the gap is even wider: 66.5% of Ghana’s population could not afford a healthy diet in 2024 (FAO, 2026). This affordability gap has persisted despite growth in national food production, suggesting that higher production alone has not been sufficient to bring a nutritionally adequate diet within reach of the average Ghanaian household. Growing more food has not, on its own, meant Ghanaian households eating better. The question this article asks is where, between the farm and the plate, that growth stops translating into food security. This article draws on secondary data, official reports, and published research to trace Ghana’s food crops from production through aggregation, storage, processing and markets to household affordability.
Ghana’s production base is substantial and has expanded across several major food crops, although this growth has not been uniform across the food system. Agriculture, together with forestry and fishing, contributed 22.19% of gross domestic product in 2024 and employed 34.3% of the labour force, more people than industry (MoFA, 2025a). Cassava, the country’s largest food crop by volume, increased annually from 2015 to 2024, while production of maize, rice, yam, and soybean also increased substantially over the period (MoFA, 2025a). These increases matter, but they do not mean that Ghana produces enough of every food crop needed for domestic consumption. The food balance shows that some crops remain in deficit even as others record substantial surpluses. Production growth is therefore part of the picture, but it does not by itself explain how much food becomes available to consumers or whether households can afford it.
The food balance makes this unevenness clearer. In 2024/2025, the country recorded net deficits of 267,384 metric tonnes of maize and 126,723 metric tonnes of milled rice, even as cassava and yam recorded surpluses of 19.8 million and 9.1 million metric tonnes respectively (MoFA, 2025a). The figures show that production is uneven across food crops, with substantial surpluses in some crops alongside continued dependence on imports for others. Rice provides a particularly clear example. In 2019, locally produced rice supplied about 45% of domestic consumption, while imports accounted for the remaining 55%, even though local paddy production had more than doubled over the preceding decade (MoFA, 2020). About 80% of milled rice was produced by small village mills, while industrial mills struggled to secure a steady supply of high-quality paddy and therefore operated below capacity (MoFA, 2020). The difficulty, then, is not simply the amount of paddy produced. It is also the ability to assemble sufficient quantities of the right quality, in the right place and at the right time to connect farmers with processors and consumers. Traders, toll millers and formal aggregators play an important role in bringing together produce from many small farms, but weaknesses in quality control, financing and coordination can make this connection difficult (MoFA, 2020).
The difficulty does not end with aggregation. Storage is another point at which farmers can lose control over when and how they sell their crops. A 2024 study of maize farmers in the Ashanti Region found that only 12.5% had adopted Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags, even though 51.75% had been exposed to the technology (Adams et al., 2024). The study found that farmers who perceived the bags as affordable and accessible were more likely to adopt them, while exposure to the technology was also associated with adoption (Adams et al., 2024). This matters because storage determines whether farmers can hold maize beyond harvest and wait for more favourable market conditions rather than being forced to sell immediately. The study found that farmers using PICS bags experienced substantially lower postharvest losses and higher farm income than comparable non-adopters (Adams et al., 2024). Storage, therefore, is not simply a matter of preventing grain from deteriorating. It affects how long farmers can retain the value of what they produce and when they can bring it to market.
But holding a crop for longer does not complete its journey to the consumer. For crops that require processing, the next connection is between farmers and processors. Ghana has a broad base of agro-processing firms operating across cereals, rice, plantains, legumes, vegetables, and other food products (MoFA, 2025a). The existence of these firms, however, does not by itself show that processing capacity is sufficient or fully utilised. The rice sector illustrates this distinction. Ghana’s industrial rice mills have processing capacity, yet difficulties securing sufficient quantities of suitable paddy have left some of that capacity underused (MoFA, 2020). The issue is therefore not simply whether processors exist, but whether they are adequately connected to reliable supplies of the food crops they need, in sufficient quality and volume. This connection matters because processing determines how far a crop can move beyond its immediate production area and how long it can remain useful after harvest. Milling, drying, packaging and other forms of processing can make food easier to store, transport and sell over a longer period. When processors cannot obtain a steady supply of suitable crops, these opportunities are limited. The result is not necessarily that the crop disappears, but that more of its value remains tied to local and often less organised markets. Where that connection is weak, increased production does not necessarily translate into more processed food reaching consumers.
When food reaches consumers, most of it is sold through small local retailers. These retailers account for about 83% of Ghana’s food retail market, while supermarkets, hypermarkets and other modern food retailers account for the remaining 17% (USDA FAS, 2026). The figure does not mean that informal retail is inefficient. Small retailers and open markets are central to how most Ghanaians buy food and to the livelihoods of many traders, particularly women. It does mean that the final link between food production and household consumption depends heavily on these small-scale markets. What happens earlier in the chain therefore matters to the retailers and consumers who depend on them. If farmers cannot supply enough produce, processors cannot maintain output, or transport and storage are unreliable, these problems can eventually affect what is available in local markets and the prices consumers face.
The question that follows is whether the food reaching these markets is affordable to the households that depend on them. Food security and healthy-diet affordability measure different aspects of that question. Food security, as measured by GSS, considers whether households have sufficient access to food, while the cost of a healthy diet asks whether people can afford food that meets recommended nutritional requirements. MoFA’s monitoring shows that the cost of a diet consistent with Ghana’s dietary guidelines increased from GH₵10.70 per person per day in 2023 to GH₵12.29 in 2024 and to GH₵14.80 by the second quarter of 2025 (MoFA, 2025b, 2025c). FAO’s latest estimate indicates that 65.8% of Ghana’s population could not afford a healthy diet in 2025 (FAO, 2026). These measures should not be treated as interchangeable; together, they show that food reaching the market does not necessarily mean that households can afford a diet that meets their nutritional needs.
One of the government’s main responses to these weaknesses is the Feed Ghana Programme. Its stated aims extend beyond raising farm output to expanding agro industrial value chains and establishing Farmer Service Centres intended to link production, inputs and markets more directly (MoFA, 2025d). This makes the programme relevant to the problems identified across the food system, since increasing production alone does not address the difficulties that arise between the farm and the consumer. However, whether Feed Ghana can address these gaps will depend on what happens in practice. The programme will need to improve the links between farmers and markets, strengthen the supply of crops to processors, and ultimately contribute to better access to affordable food. It is still too early to judge these outcomes, since the programme is in its early stages of implementation. Its progress will need to be assessed through evidence showing whether the connections it aims to strengthen are improving.
Ghana has increased production of several major food crops, but this growth has not been sufficient to meet all domestic food needs or consistently translate into affordable food for households. Beyond production, the breakdown becomes more apparent in the connections that move food from dispersed farms to consumers: crops are not consistently aggregated, stored, and supplied to processors in the quantities, quality, and timing required, and the effects ultimately reach households through limited affordability. Ghana records surpluses in some food crops while remaining dependent on imports for others, and weaknesses along the value chain further limit how much of that production reaches consumers. Even when food reaches the market, many households cannot afford a diet that meets their nutritional needs. More production remains necessary, but it will not be enough on its own if the connections between farmers, processors, markets, and households remain weak.
References
Adams, F., Donkor, E., Quaye, J., Adusei Jantuah, A., & Etuah, S. (2024). Sustainable maize storage technology adoption in Ghana: Implications for postharvest losses, farm income, and income inequality. Food and Energy Security, 13(5), e70011. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.70011
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2026). FAOSTAT: Cost and affordability of a healthy diet (CoAHD) [Data set]. FAOSTAT CoAHD database
Ghana Statistical Service. (2025). World Food Day press release: Number of Ghanaians in food crisis increases by 7.3 percent between Q1 and Q4 2024.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2026). Food insecurity and Consumer Price Index dashboards. https://statsghana.gov.gh/
Ministry of Food and Agriculture. (2020). Ghana rice strategic brief.
Ministry of Food and Agriculture. (2025a). Agriculture in Ghana: Facts and figures (2024) (34th ed.).
Ministry of Food and Agriculture. (2025b). Cost of a healthy diet in Ghana: 2024 annual report.
Ministry of Food and Agriculture. (2025c). Cost of a healthy diet in Ghana: 2025 quarter 2 bulletin.
Ministry of Food and Agriculture. (2025d). Feed Ghana Programme: A four-year agricultural transformation programme (2025–2028)United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service. (2026). Ghana: Food Processing Ingredients Annual (GAIN Report). https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/gain/2026/03/ghana-food-processing-ingredients-annual
