Most Ghanaians Spend More Than Half of Their Earnings on Food Due To Over 70% Increase in Food Price Since January 2014

The current economic challenges have pushed food prices above the means of most Ghanaians, who spend more than half of their earnings on food.
The situation has been compounded by the free fall of the cedi, which has weakened households’ purchasing power. Ghanaian household expenses on food are 30 times more than what pertains in developed and other Western countries.
Checks from various markets indicate that from July last year to date, prices of food items have risen by 70%.
For instance, the price of a sack of maize rose from GHC100 in July 2013 to GHC250 this month while a crate of eggs, which sold for GHC7 last year, is now GHC13.
An olonka of gari, which was sold for GH?2.50 in July last year, is now selling at GHC5 while 5 litres of vegetable cooking oil, which cost GH?15 in July 2013, now cost GH?35.
In July 2013, a tin of milk used to cost GHC1.50 but now sells for GHC2.50, and a tin of Milo, which was sold for GHC6, has risen to GHC10.
According to traders at various markets in Accra, an “olonka” of sugar is now GHC10 compared to GH?6 in July 2013.
The market women said 25kg of Texas rice, which sold for GHC650 in July 2013, now sells at GHC950 while a crate of tomatoes rose from GHC600 to GHC700 within the same period.
During the one-year period, a sack of onion jumped from GH?160 to GH?350 while the price of 1 kilo of chicken rose from GHC5.50 to GHC8 currently.
Butchers quoted 1 kilo of beef (cow meat) at GCC14 now, compared to GHC6 in July last year, while a sack of beans imported from Niger jumped from GH?150 last year July to GHC220.
Even the price of sachet water has doubled from 10 pesewas in July 2013 to 20 pesewas currently.
For bulk purchase, the price of USA Chicken Leg Quarter rose from GH?44.50 in January this year to GH?74 currently.
On the other hand, Brazil Chicken Leg Quarter now sells at GH?80 from GH?55.2 in January.
During the one-year period, the distributor price of 50kg US rice recorded 48.47% price hike, jumping from GH?114.5 in July 2013 to GH?168 as at July 14 this year.
Fifty kilogramme Vietnam fragrance rice also moved from GH?104.78 last year to GH?170.72 this month, an increase of 62%.
The erosion of the purchasing power of the poor is severe during spikes in food prices, since poor people devote a larger share of their total earnings on food than do wealthier people.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a study in 2012 found that Ghanaians spend about 62% of their incomes on sourcing food; the situation has been exacerbated in some areas of the country where the cost of such things as rent and commuting are higher.
Ironically, people living in rural Ghana, where almost all of the country’s food crops are produced, spend more on food than their urban counterparts, which is a deviation from other regions where net food buyers are mostly higher income urban residents.
Smallholder farmers devote most of their resources to growing food but their farm productivity is too low to meet all their food needs – so much of their cash income go toward food rather than to other goods.
In Ghana, food and fuel price inflation have led to a higher cost of living while many wages in the country have remained stagnant.