At a lavish wedding reception in one of Accra’s upscale neighborhoods, Chef Kwame Adu watches helplessly as plates of untouched jollof rice, grilled tilapia, and half-eaten banku are scraped into trash bins.
“This food could feed families,” he says with frustration—a sentiment that reflects a growing but largely overlooked national emergency.
Ghana is grappling with a paradox: widespread food insecurity amid staggering levels of food waste. In the first quarter of 2022, data from the Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) revealed that 49.1% of Ghanaians—approximately 15.1 million people—experienced food insecurity. This figure dropped to 42% in the second quarter, but the crisis remains acute.
A separate 2020 report by the Ghana Statistical Service, in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), found that 3.6 million Ghanaians were food insecure, with 1.6 million facing severe hunger.
Yet, even as hunger persists, Ghana discards an estimated 84 kilograms of food per person every year—10 kilograms above the global average.
So, what becomes of our leftovers at homes, schools, restaurants, and workplaces?
According to Professor Marian Asantewah Nkansah, an environmental chemist, the waste is staggering. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on World Earth Day, she highlighted data from 49 restaurants in the Ashanti Region, each generating an average of 2.89 tonnes of food waste annually.
Nationwide, over 320,000 tonnes of edible food is discarded each year. Hotels, restaurants, and educational institutions account for 40% of this waste.
“Imagine redirecting even half of this to communities in need,” Professor Nkansah urged.
The crisis is especially apparent at buffet-style events, said Chef Michael Quainoo, President of the Chefs Association of Ghana. “Guests pile food onto their plates and leave half of it uneaten,” he noted, advocating for portion control and encouraging guests to take smaller servings and return for more if needed.
But the issue of food waste is not just humanitarian—it’s also environmental. Discarded food decomposing in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas significantly more potent than carbon dioxide.
“Unchecked food waste is sabotaging our climate goals,” Professor Nkansah warned. “Every wasted meal contributes to environmental degradation.”
Though Ghana’s current food waste policies focus primarily on food safety and sanitation, experts say a more strategic, integrated approach is long overdue.
Lessons from abroad offer a roadmap. France has implemented laws requiring supermarkets to donate unsold food and compost organic waste. The United Kingdom has made strides through national awareness campaigns and industry partnerships. South Korea has achieved near-total food waste diversion using a “pay-as-you-throw” system that charges households based on food waste volume.
If Ghana is to confront its twin challenges of hunger and climate change, it must adopt a more proactive approach to managing food waste.
“With over a million Ghanaians facing severe hunger, we can no longer afford to throw food away,” Professor Nkansah said. “This is the time to act.”