Features
The threat of food shortage in Africa
• Africa has around 600 million hectares of uncultivated arable land,
roughly 60 per cent of the global total
Even though all sectors of the economy in Ghana and elsewhere in the world are important, it is necessary that equal attention is paid to each of these sectors, especially the food and agriculture sector due to its essential contribution to the economy.
This is important because it is the agricultural sector that produces food and essential raw materials to feed the people and the nation. Without food, the people in any country cannot eat and become strong to go about their normal duties.
QUALITY FOOD
If people are well fed from quality food, they become strong and healthy and hardly fall sick assuming the environment in which they live is kept clean for the survival of the people.
Some credible institutions in the world such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have started warning African countries including Ghana to be very careful and position themselves for the farmine which is likely to confront them.
IMF WARNING
Indeed the IMF is warning of impending food security issues for Ghana and other African countries due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The Fund said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed food and energy-related commodities to record levels on the global market.
The captured concern, it should be noted, is in the IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook Report released quite recently. This concern cannot be taken for granted.
The report has already made it clear that many countries in Africa are already struggling when it comes to food security, inadequate production of goods and services and also lack of many consumables needed by people in the African region to live good lives as a way of improving upon their general welfare.
NEED TO TAKE NOTE OF THE WARNING
Since Ghana is in the African region and has been mentioned in the report, there is the need for authorities in this country to take note of this warning and reposition themselves for the great battle ahead. Needless to say, the Russian-Ukraine conflict has created shortages in food supply from that part of the world to other areas. Apart from finished products coming from Russia and Ukraine, shortages of many raw materials for food production are being experienced, thereby making it extremely difficult for countries close to Russia and Ukraine to export adequate quantities of food and raw materials to other parts of the world including Africa.
The countries around such as Hungary, Slovakia, Czech, Romania, etc are thinking of their own food security and, therefore, are not in a rush to export their food items to Africa.
Even in a situation where they are willing to export some of these food items, the products have been strongly affected by inflation. For this reason, the food items are exported to countries in Africa at high costs since it has become extremely difficult for them to be produced at cheaper prices.
IMPORTS AT HIGH PRICES
The world today is, therefore, faced with a situation in which a variety of food items are imported at high prices. What Africa can do is to stop being import-oriented as far as food items and raw materials are concerned, so that they can depend on their own selves for adequate food production. This is what Ghana and other African countries need to do to forestall the dangers associated with food insecurity.
Ghana’s programme known as “Planting for Food and Jobs” together with other good programmes in the agricultural sector have come in at the right time. Indeed, had it not been this good programme of food planting, the situation would have been worse.
COVID-19 AND SHORTAGES
When the COVID-19 struck the world and created sudden shortages in food production, it is food items from this food programme that saved Ghana as a country. It made it possible for the people to be fed in all parts of the country because food items had been produced in abundance. Unfortunately, the food situation now cannot be said to be the best because of the soaring prices of foodstuffs in the country.
The prices of locally produced crops have become expensive because some of the raw materials such as fertiliser are imported. Since the fertiliser comes from the Russian-Ukraine area, their prices have naturally gone high, so we are expected to be confronted with high prices from now onwards until the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine. If the war does not end today or immediately, things will continue to be worse. Already, the prices of food items as well as fertiliser keep rising and rising. With the price of crude oil also rising higher and higher, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many people in African countries to cope with the unfavourable economic situation. Such a situation, unfortunate as it is, must end now and this is why we expect the two countries at war to reconsider their positions and the interest of the entire world, and do what they can to bring the war to an end.
It has been stated by certain people time and again that, it is not God the creator of the world who will bring an end to the world. Rather, it is the activities of man that will bring the world to an end.
RUSSIA AND UKRAINE
And how true this sounds in the light of what is going on between Russia and Ukraine!
Meanwhile, Ghana ought to continue to improve upon its Planting for Food and Jobs programme, so that enough can be produced to feed her own people and possibly the countries around. Also, the country needs to restrategise and begin to produce its own fertiliser to forestall similar occurrences in the future.
ORGANIC FERTILISER
Organic fertiliser is easily obtainable within the country. The problem, however, is with the manufacture of chemical fertiliser which is usually imported. However, since efforts have been made to produce vaccines within the country in light of the experience of the COVID-19, we can attempt at producing our own chemical fertiliser also for the country.
ECONOMIC SITUATION
The economic situation today is very challenging but with the right policies in place, Ghana will be able to overcome any obstacles and challenges that confront it today.
By Dr. Kofi Amponsah-Bediako
Contact email/whatsApp address of author:
Pradmat201@gmail.com (0553318911)
On Sunday, October 11, 2026, it was the turn of Ghanaian Catholics in Finland to lead the singing in the church service of the African Catholic Chaplaincy in Finland (ACCF).
It was indeed a spirit-filled feeling for worshippers present. And for the Ghanaian migrants, the occasion also brought back to them memories of church services in their home country, Ghana.
The ACCF has a roster for each country/community to sing from time to time. Next Sunday will be the turn of the Nigerian community. Other communities that usually sing are the Kenyan/Tanzanian community, the Cameroonian, the Ugandan, group, etc.
A powerful religious experience
The mass services of the Chaplaincy usually give a powerful religious experience and a display of cultural diversity, especially in occasions such as when the Bishop of Helsinki, Bishop Raimo Goyarrola, celebrated mass with the Chaplaincy on Pentecost Day, May 24, 2026.
There was a similar time of spiritual joy last month (September 27, 2026) when Emeritus Bishop Teemu Sippo, former Bishop of Helsinki, visited the Chaplaincy. Bishop Teemu was the main celebrant, assisted by the Chaplain, Reverend Father Thomas Otieno.
Last Sunday, Reverend Father Bernard Sor, a Ghanaian Catholic priest based in Austria, was the main celebrant in the mass service where he performed a rite of baptism. Fr Bernard had celebrated mass a few months ago when he visited his sister and her husband in Helsinki. 
All these well-attended religious occasions indeed leave lasting memories. The homilies (peaching) by the priests usually emphasize religious tenets such as the importance of loving and serving God in truth, existing in peace with our fellow humans to promote unity in diversity, etc.
Unity in diversity and a colourful display of cultures
The African Chaplaincy church services usually produce impressive displays of diverse cultures from different parts of Africa and elsewhere. The events are often spiced by rich cultural displays of dances and colourful attires which are a delight to watch.
On special occasions, members of the Ghanaian Catholic community, in their gay and colourful kente attire and with adowa dance and music, usually lead the procession into the church. Other communities such as the Cameroonian, Nigerian, Kenyan and Tanzanian as well as Sudanese/South Sudanese groups also put up well-choreographed performances from their cultures.
The African Catholic Chaplaincy in Finland
The African Chaplaincy was founded on June 4, 2017, which was a Pentecost Sunday, in a Pontifical High Mass celebrated by Monsignor Emeritus Sippo S.C.I., the then Bishop of Helsinki, at the St. Mary’s Catholic Parish Church in Helsinki.
The Chaplaincy was created by Bishop Teemu in collaboration with the Diocesan body when they detected a great flocking of African immigrants to Finland, the majority of whom were Catholics. This was to give the immigrants a possibility to integrate into the Finnish society by worshiping as Catholics and in their African cultural identity.
The responsibility of the Chaplaincy was given by Bishop Teemu to Father Dr Leonard Wobilla Shwei, who is thus the first Chaplain and ably led the Chaplaincy. He was succeeded a few years ago by Father Thomas Otieno, who continues to move the Chaplaincy forward. Thank you!
GHANA MATTERS column appears fortnightly. Written in simple, layman’s terms, it concentrates on matters about Ghana and beyond. It focuses on everyday life issues relating to the social, cultural, economic, religious, political, health, sports, youth, gender, etc. It strives to remind us all that Ghana comes first. The column also takes a candid look at the meanings and repercussions of our actions, especially those things we take for granted or even ignore. There are key Ghanaian values we should uphold rather than disregard with impunity. We should not overlook the obvious. We need to search for the hidden or deeply embedded values and try to project them.
With Dr Perpetual Crentsil
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She did not find out he was cheating. She found out he was drowning.
It was two weeks after their beautiful wedding. The jollof was still in the fridge. A loan officer called her number-not his-and politely asked, “Madam, please tell your husband to pay his overdue loan. We have been calling him.”
That was how she discovered her new husband had entered their marriage with a hidden debt of over GH¢ 40,000. No cheating. No other woman. Just a financial secret.
And that is how many Ghanaian marriages begin to die. Not with a shout, but with a secret alert on a phone.
We prepare for the wedding. We do not prepare for the wallet.
What is money honesty?
Let me define it simply. Money honesty is not that you both earn the same. It is that you both know the same. It is the ability to sit down and say without fear:
“This is how much I earn.”
“This is how much I owe.”
“This is how I was raised to see money.”
“This is what scares me about money.”
Financial transparency is not about control. It is about clarity. You cannot build trust on top of secrets.
Many couples tell me, “Counsellor, we love each other, love will handle money.” I always answer, “Love is the car, but money honesty is the fuel. Love without honesty cannot move.”
How To Buy Your Marriage Insurance Today – My 5-Step Protocol
If you are engaged, newly married, or even 20 years in marriage, you can still fix this. At Counsellor Prince & Associates Consult—CPAC, this is what I give couples:
Step 1: The 90-Minute Money Naked Session.
No phones, no blame. Each partner writes down on paper: Monthly income, monthly debts, monthly family obligations, savings, and your biggest money fear. Then you exchange papers. Read it. Don’t react for 24 hours. Just absorb.
Step 2: Create OUR Money, YOUR Money, My Money.
You need three pots. OUR money for rent, food, school fees, utilities, properties, and the like— joint contribution. YOUR money and MY money—a small agreed allowance no one questions. This stops the feeling of being controlled.
Step 3: The No-Secret Debt Rule.
Agree from today: No new loan, no new hire purchase, no new family financial commitment above GHS 500 without telling each other first. Not permission, but information.
Step 4: Talk About Your Money Personality.
Are you a Spender or a Saver? Are you Risky or Safe? Most Ghanaian marriages are a Spender married to a Saver. Neither is wrong. But if you don’t understand your partner’s personality, you will call his saving “stinginess” and her spending “wastefulness.”
Step 5: Do a Monthly 30-Minute Money Date
Not an argument date. Light, with tea. “How did we do this month? What worried you? What should we plan for next month?” Couples who do this divorce far less.
My Final Word
Before you say “I Do” at the altar, have pre-marital counselling and also have the money talk on the sofa.
Ask your partner:
“If I lost my job today, how long can we survive?”
“What debt are you bringing into this marriage?”
“How much do you send to your family monthly and will that continue?”
If he or she gets angry that you asked, don’t get married yet. A person who is angry about accountability will be abusive about money.
Marriage insurance is not bought at Star Assurance or Enterprise. It is bought in honest conversations when no one is watching.
The wedding costs one day. The marriage costs a lifetime. Don’t enter a lifetime contract and covenant with hidden costs.
You can still insure your marriage today.
Source:
Counselor Prince Offei, CPAC’s founder, is a leading Mental Health Professional, Marriage Counsellor, Author, ADR Expert/Arbitrator, and Spectator Newspaper Columnist. He writes on relationships, marriage, parenting, special needs support, and their connection to mental health. For therapy, counselling, or enquiries, contact Counselor Prince & Associates Consult (CPAC) in Accra on 0559850604 / 0551428486.
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