The United States is providing $2.5 million in new development assistance, subject to congressional notification, in Ghana through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). As an existing Feed the Future partner country, Ghana will intensify efforts to directly mitigate the impacts of growing food insecurity, which has been exacerbated by Russia’s unprovoked aggression in Ukraine. A confluence of crises has pushed many Ghanaians into hunger. Food and fertilizer prices, already high as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, have soared even higher due to Russia’s war against Ukraine, putting families at risk.
This additional USAID funding in Ghana will focus on developing and marketing inorganic and organic fertilizer products, and support fertilizer importers and blenders/manufacturers, including private sector partners, to bring more fertilizer into the country and ensure they reach the most vulnerable farmers. Supporting vulnerable households and individuals to protect their health and economic livelihoods can strengthen food systems, which in turn can help mitigate the risks of food insecurity that can erode existing capacities to meet a population’s needs.
Feed the Future’s intensified efforts to mitigate this crisis and alleviate food insecurity and malnutrition in Ghana are part of Congress’ bipartisan emergency supplemental bill signed by President Biden in May. This includes $2.76 billion in supplemental U.S. government resources to protect the world’s most vulnerable populations from the escalating global food security crisis exacerbated by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine and the severe drought in the Horn of Africa region.