Ghana targets nutrition security through plant-based food systems

Ghana is seeking to strengthen nutrition security, climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods through the development of a National Plant-Based Food Systems Plan. Mr Seidu Issifu, the Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability, said the plan would provide a framework for improving local food production, promoting dietary diversity and integrating climate action into the country’s food systems. The Minister was speaking at a validation workshop on Ghana’s Draft National Plant-Based Food Systems Plan in Accra, where stakeholders reviewed the document to ensure that it reflected national priorities and provided a practical foundation for implementation.

Mr Issifu said Ghana’s food systems were central to economic development, employment, public health and social wellbeing, with agriculture sustaining millions of livelihoods and remaining fundamental to the country’s development ambitions. However, he said the sector faced increasing threats from climate-related shocks, including erratic rainfall, droughts, floods, declining soil quality and other environmental pressures that threatened agricultural productivity, food availability, household incomes and rural economies. He said the challenges were compounded by dependence on selected food imports, pressure on land and water resources, environmental degradation and the need to improve nutrition outcomes. “These concerns require an integrated and forward-looking approach that connects agricultural production with climate action, nutrition, trade, public health, investment and environmental sustainability,” he added. Mr. Seidu emphasised that the proposed plan was not intended to impose dietary choices on Ghanaians but to expand opportunities, strengthen agricultural diversity and make better use of the…