The Potential Of Horticultural Crops In Achieving Food Security In Ghana

Food security, as characterized by the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security, is the condition in which people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. It is imperative to note that achieving food security in Ghana will help meet the Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 2, which is to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture and furthermore contribute altogether to and advantage from a large number of the other 15 SDGs. “Agriculture plays a central role in increasing food availability and incomes, supporting livelihoods and contributing to the overall economy” (World Bank, 2008). Despite agriculture’s significant contribution to Ghana’s development about 5% of Ghana’s populace are food insecure and about 2 million people are vulnerable to become food insecure. (Darfour & Rosentrater, 2016). Horticulture is a subset of agriculture and its application provides food, products for personal use, monetary gain and also enhancing the surroundings. Five main horticultural enterprises can be found in Ghana and they are, Vegetable crop production, Fruit crop production, Landscape horticulture, Floriculture and Nursery stock production.

The major crops produced are pineapples, mangoes, bananas, chili peppers, tomatoes and some exotic vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, carrots, just to name a few. Ghana has a huge potential in achieving food security due to our tropical climate conditions. It is possible to have an all year round food supply provided the necessary plant conditions are met. Sun loving crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, amongst others can be cultivated in the sunny season whiles lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and many others can be planted in the moisture rich season to ensure the stable supply of food throughout the year. “Ghana has a high temperature with the average annual temperature ranging between 24℃ to 30℃ although it may drop to 18℃ in the northern part and increase to 40℃ in the northern parts. ” (Asante & Amuakwa-Mensah, 2015) Many plants such as pineapples, citrus, bananas and avocado can thrive under these temperatures and can be cultivated commercially and can be either exported or sold locally. Moreover, construction of green houses such as the enviro dome for horticultural crops can help achieve food security in Ghana. Green houses are constructed with equipment that are able to mimic the natural weather conditions needed by crops. With this in place, exotic horticultural crops such as cucumbers, beet and radish amongst others can also be cultivated right here in Ghana. Green house vegetable farming only requires a small land for production and even provides protection for the crops against adverse weather conditions. This is good because strong winds and rains may cause damage to crops leading to little or zero economic gain.

According to the Centre for Scientific Research, Ghana has the potential to become Africa’s leader in vegetable crop production, if we expand green house farming. Most horticultural crops do not take up much space and as such can be cultivated in the backyard of houses. This way, one can ensure that all crops produced are wholly organic and are healthy for consumption. This provides food for individuals whiles cutting down cost. In conclusion, horticultural crops provide us with the necessary nutrients needed for human growth and development and their proper cultivation provides us with food all year round. Learning to preserve the produce also goes a long way to ensure the availability of food.