By For the first time since the inception of the Global Report on Food Crisis in 2016, Ghana is considered an area of concern for food insecurity. This is attributed to conflicts in neighboring countries in the central Sahel district.
The report highlights that conflicts in neighboring countries have affected the northern borders of coastal countries, notably Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Togo, as well as the eastern border of Chad.
These conflicts have resulted in the displacement of people across the region. The situation of displaced populations in West Africa and the Sahel has become increasingly challenging due to escalating conflict, deteriorating security, and environmental factors, including climate change. By mid-2023, the region faced a growing internal displacement crisis with 7.5 million Internally Displaced Persons in seven countries, about half a million more than by the end of 2022, mostly due to conflict and insecurity in the Central Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
By the end of 2023, Ghana alone had around 7,000 refugees and nearly 16,000 asylum-seekers. This development prompted the West African nation to seek emergency external aid to assist in providing for these refugees.
“Refugees in Ghana were selected for inclusion in the GRFC 2024 for the first time, as the country requested external aid to assist these populations in 2023,” the report stated.
The majority of these displaced persons are from Côte d’Ivoire and Togo, which are increasingly affected by the Central Sahel crisis. These refugees have suffered significant livelihood losses, limiting their access to income and exacerbating food access constraints.
Their situation was further worsened by high food inflation in Ghana, which, despite declining from 61 percent in January 2023, remained at 28.7 percent by December 2023.
Ghana’s Food Inflation Trend: Jan 2023-Date
The report noted, however, a significant absence of acute food insecurity data regarding these displaced populations.
Focus West Africa and the Sahel
In 2023, 44.3 million people, or 11% of the analyzed population in West Africa and the Sahel, experienced high levels of acute food insecurity across 14 countries. These countries include Sierra Leone, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Liberia, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Mauritania, and Burkina Faso.
In 2023, there were 9.7 million forcibly displaced people in 13 food-crisis countries. This group comprised 7.5 million Internally Displaced Persons and 2.2 million refugees and asylum-seekers.
Source: Joy News
