Agriculture and Food Security in Northern Ghana

Abstract

In the northern part of Ghana, about 97.9 percent of households are engaged in crop farming such as maize, rice, sorghum, soy beans, cowpea, cassava, yam, cotton and vegetables, with few households engaging in poultry, livestock and pig rearing. Agricultural production is therefore the main activity in the northern sector of Ghana and is practiced mainly on seasonal and subsistence level. The Gross Domestic Product of the country has recorded an annual growth rate of about 4 to 8 percent within the past decade. Agricultural growth has been the major driver of poverty reduction. The agriculture sector is the largest source of employment for the people of northern Ghana, and is dominated by smallholder farmers. The challenges in the agriculture sector include human resource and managerial skills, natural resource management, technology development and food insecurity. Food security is a phenomenon resulting from multiple causes which are food availability, food accessibility, food utilization and food stability. About 5% of Ghanaian populace are food insecure. Additionally, about 2 million Ghanaian people are vulnerable to become food insecure. Growth in the agricultural sector has been more rapid as compared to that of 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. Agricultural growth however, depends mainly on rainfall patterns and land expansion. The objective of this paper was to review literature on food security in Ghana, agricultural contribution to food security in northern Ghana and some policy measures put in place by successive governments to reduce food insecurity in northern Ghana.