[ 2014-08-31 ]

2013 Ghana Food Wastage Report

THEME: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF FOOD WASTAGE IN
GHANA

SUBJECT: GHANA LOSSES $8.9 BILLION TO FOOD WASTAGE
IN 2013

REPORT BY: CHEFS FOR CHANGE GHANA FOUNDATION

Chefs For Change Ghana Foundation(CFCG) is a non
profit food recovery organisation made up of
chefs,student,hoteliers, and volunteers that have
over the years been advocating towards the
reduction of food wastage and hunger in Ghana and
across the African continent.We create sustainable
means of nutrition for less privileged citizens
including the mentally
retarded,aged,prisoners,street kids and disable in
our community.Our annual Feast of Hope project is
tauted as the largest feeding of less privileged
people on a UN World food day across Africa.Our
objective is to create a realistic solution and
national awareness on the economic impact of food
wastage across Africa.CFCG is a partner of SAVE
FOOD,an FAO Global initiative with technical
support from Tristram Stuart (Global food wastage
expert) and Aregalas Hellas(Chefs without
Borders).

Food wastage is fast becoming a part of the
Ghanaian lifestyle. A recent study by the Food and
Agriculture Organization reported that one-third
of all food produced for human consumption is lost
or wasted globally, amounting to as much as 1.2
billion metric tonnes annually. Food waste is a
global problem of staggering proportions, but the
underlying reasons differ between countries. The
report estimated the magnitude of worldwide food
losses, but did not assess the corresponding
climate change or economic impacts.

Besides environmental impacts, food waste also
imposes an economic cost on consumers and
retailers. If quantified correctly, this could
provide a unique incentive to simultaneously
mitigate emissions and save money through waste
reduction.

The motivation for this study was to quantify in a
comprehensive manner, for the first time, the
annual economic impact of the food wasted in Ghana
using the food availability data from MOFA’s
annual reports and other related studies carried
out globally. This is important given the current
position of Ghana’s economy, our over dependence
of food imports, the rapid growth of our catering,
hospitality and grocery industry.

The approach adopted in this study is both
bottoms-up. It analyzes 87 distinct Ghanaian and
foreign food commodities mostly used in Ghana and
then group them into 17 food categories. Each of
the 87 commodities is modeled using one or more
representative production system. The study
captured the inefficiencies in the Ghanaian food
system and provided detailed information to what
Government, Businesses and consumers should do to
improve our food system. It went further to
calculate the amount of food wasted by weight
before calculating the value of wasted food in the
year 2013. From the study, Ghana lost 3.2 million
metric tons of food valued at $8.9 billion in
2013, which could have been more if food losses on
Ghanaian farms were included. Distribution losses
amounted to 1.7million tones, whiles retail and
consumer losses are 578,000 and 946,000mt
respectively. Using Ghana‘s population estimate
of 25.91 million (GSS, 2012), the per capita
retail value of total food wasted in Ghana is
$342.67 per year.

For detailed information on the study, please find
attached the executive summary of the study. The
Ghanaian has a big responsibility to inform and
educate Ghanaians on the effects of food wastage
in this country hence we believe you will pass
this information onto the populace.

Source - Chefs for change Ghana

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