UN food bodies express concern for Ghana

The UN food agencies on Thursday warned that Ghana risks losing the gains it has made in an anti-hunger drive due to the twin brakes of global financial downturn and high food prices.

"The global financial crisis is a major threat to the progress that Ghana has made in the fight against hunger and poverty," Josette Sheeran, World Food Programme (WFP) executive director said.

The WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Ghana was the only country in sub-Saharan Africa that was on track to reduce hunger under the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) aimed at halving hunger and poverty by 2015.

FAO statistics show that of the 23 million Ghanaians, the number of undernourished people fell from 5.4 million in the early 1990s to 1.9 million by 2005.

But the financial meltdown, rising inflation, high food prices and climate-related shocks -- floods and droughts -- may mean Ghana is unable to maintain its momentum.

Ghana's inflation rate in February surged to a five-year high of 20.34 percent.

FAO director-general Jacques Diouf said the west African country had shown "real progress against hunger, malnutrition and poverty," but will need greater external support if it is to stay on track and help millions of others still vulnerable.

Food prices reached their peak in Ghana in mid-2008 but, despite a very good harvest, staples like rice, cassava and maize have remained at unusually high levels until now, according to the agencies.

Sheeran and Diouf are in Ghana for a three day-visit to check on the activities of their respective agencies in the country.