Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, is optimistic that the country will not experience a famine despite the severe drought impacting Northern Ghana, .
Northern Ghana has endured more than two months without rain, leading to stunted crops and rising anxiety among farmers about the prospects for their harvest and potential food shortages.
In a recent interview with Channel One TV, Acheampong reassured the public that these fears are unfounded.
He emphasized that the government is actively addressing the situation and has measures in place to prevent it from developing into a full-blown food crisis.
“I don’t think there will be a 1982 [1983] event, I don’t think that there will be famine, I don’t think that there will be food shortages, none of that,” Acheampong stated.
“I think maybe at the time that it happened, we didn’t have the predictive tools or the intelligence to be able to deal with the situation.
“Some of which at the time were compounded by drought and fires which ravaged almost the whole country. We don’t have that situation on our hands now and we’re not going to get there.”
The 1983 famine in Ghana, one of the most severe food crises in the country’s history, was triggered by a prolonged drought starting in 1981 and devastating bushfires that destroyed up to 35% of the nation’s food supply.
Minister Bryan Acheampong reassured the public that the government has implemented measures to prevent a repeat of such a disaster.
He noted that while the current drought might impact food markets later in September and October, the government is proactively addressing the situation to mitigate any potential shortages.
“All the things that we are talking about, except for the damage to the crops that has happened now, in terms of the impact on the markets, will be more at the end of September and October, and we are putting in steps now to deal with it,” he assured.
“By now, even if the crops were doing well, they wouldn’t have harvested it. So, with all the stock of grains the farmers were living on, they still had something to live on until the next harvest in September.
“And so we are saying that we need to have all the systems and support in place in the country by the 20th to the end of September, to take us through. So that is what we’re planning against,” he explained.
He concluded by affirming his confidence that Ghana will not see a repeat of the 1982-1983 famine, which was characterised by severe drought and widespread bushfires that devastated the country’s food production.