Fact checking: Bawumia’s claim on Ghana being ranked 3rd on Food Security in Africa misleading

On November 4, 2024, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President and presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), began a 15-day campaign tour of the Ashanti region.

At Drobonso, the district capital of the Sekyere Afram Plains in the region, the NPP flagbearer touted achievements chalked by his party under the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration in the last eight years.

Prominent in his electioneering messages was the significant impact the NPP’s flagship program for the agriculture sector – Planting for Food and Jobs – has had on Ghana’s food security.

Dr. Bawumia indicated that the country had made strides in Food security, asserting that the country is ranked as one of the top countries on the African continent with improved food security.

His claim translates from the local dialect, Twi, to English as:

“Africa has 54 countries. But if you look at countries on the continent with food security, Ghana is positioned at number 3 out of 54. It’s only South Africa and Kenya that are ahead of us. And in the UN SDGs Ghana has zero hunger”.

JoyNews Research Desk fact-checked claims by the flagbearer and presents the findings below.

Verdict: Misleading

Here is an explainer corroborating that the Vice President’s claim the Ghana is the 3rd country in Africa with Food security is misleading.

Sourcing from various documents, but particularly the Global Food Security Index report conducted by the Economist Impact – the 2022 Global Food Security Index report, Ghana is rather the 3rd most food secure country in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and not on the entire continent.

The report revealed that Ghana is ranked 7^th in Africa and 83^rd globally with an overall score of 52.6. South Africa and Kenya are ranked 1^st and 2^nd countries respectively in Sub-Saharan Africa with adequate food to feed their populations.

The 2022 Global Food Security Index report is a compilation of 11 years of research conducted between 2012 and 2022.

Premised on the above explanation, the claim by the Vice President that Ghana is ranked 3^rd on the African continent with food security is misleading.