From soil to soup bowl - Ghana’s food crisis and the system behind it copy

Walk into any market, chop bar, or restaurant in Ghana today and you will hear

the same complaint everywhere: “Food is too expensive.” Not luxury imports.

Not foreign delicacies.

Basic Ghanaian food, Ripe plantain, Yam, Cassava, Rice, Stew, Soup. Foods

that should be abundant and affordable are increasingly becoming items people

hesitate to buy.

In many neighbourhoods, ordinary citizens report that you need 50 cedis or

more for a single proper meal, depending on location. Multiply that by three

meals a day, and households are forced to make painful trade-offs.

People hear a price, pause, and silently calculate: How much will I spend in a

week? In a month? Why does a plate of rice cost 100–200 cedis when a large

bag sells for 500–900 cedis?

This arithmetic, silently performed by everyday Ghanaians, reveals the real

problem: Ghana’s food crisis is not born in the market—it begins long before

food reaches the plate.

The Cost of Farming Before the First Seed

Most of Ghana’s staples; plantain, yam, cassava, maize, and vegetables, are

produced by smallholder farmers operating on thin margins. Fertilizers are

expensive, improved seeds are scarce, and mechanization is limited.

Manual labour is slow, inefficient, and costly. In such a system, producing

affordable food is nearly impossible, and the burden inevitably falls on the

consumer.

Rain-Fed Agriculture and Climate Risk

Over 90% of Ghana’s agriculture is rain-fed. In a changing climate, this

dependence is dangerous. Delayed rains, floods, or prolonged dry spells

determine whether yields succeed or fail. Irrigation, which could stabilize

production and prices, remains underdeveloped. The result: recurring price

shocks that seem “unexpected,” but are entirely predictable.

Producing Food, We Cannot Preserve

A significant share of what Ghana produces never reaches the consumer. Postharvest losses—due to poor storage, lack of cold chains, and inadequate

processing facilities—mean tomatoes rot, cassava goes underutilized, and fish

spoils. Meanwhile, imports of rice, tomato paste, and starch increase, driving

prices higher for foods that could be produced locally.

Roads, Distance, and Hidden Costs

Food must travel from farm to plate. Poor feeder roads, high transport costs,

fuel price spikes, and multiple intermediaries add layers of cost. The result: food is cheapest at the farm gate and most expensive in the city, a stark irony for a country that grows its own staples.

The Everyday Reality

For many Ghanaians, this crisis is personal. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

become calculations of affordability rather than nourishment. Households skip

meals, reduce portion sizes, or opt for less nutritious substitutes. The

consequences ripple across health, productivity, and education, yet the issue

rarely dominates national discussion.

A Systemic Failure

The real question is not why food is expensive. It is why Ghana allows a broken

chain—from inputs, production, storage, transport, processing, to policy—to

persist. Until this system is fixed, food will continue to feel like a luxury,

households will continue to make painful trade-offs, and dependence on imports

will deepen.

This is not just an economic problem. It is a matter of national resilience,

health, and dignity. Farmers, policymakers, media, and citizens must confront

the truth: Ghana can grow and feed itself, but only if we treat food as the

foundation of national survival, not just a market commodity.

If breakfast, lunch, and dinner touch every Ghanaian three times a day, then the

conversation about food pricing, storage, and production should touch all of us

every day, too.

Written by a concerned citizen and advocate for modern agricultural education

and youth entrepreneurship, committed to empowering the next generation to

innovate, feed communities, and transform Ghana’s economy.