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Claim: A member of the New Patriotic Party’s communications team, Kwesi Botchway Jr., has claimed that over 21 million Ghanaians cannot afford a healthy diet. Some online users have expressed doubt about the claim, questioning the source of the data.
Verdict: True! Data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations backs the claim.
Full Text
A recent claim by Kwesi Botchway Jr., an aide to Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, the 2024 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has sparked conversations after he cited a statistic that over 21 million Ghanaians are unable to afford a healthy diet.
His claim was featured in a news card posted on the social media platforms of Accra-based United Television (see here and here). Across Facebook and X. The posts have attracted over 2,000 reactions and responses.
Among these responses are questions about the claim’s accuracy. One user, responding on X, asked, “Where did he get that data from?” to which another user answered, “From NPP Statistical Service.”
Is there reliable data to support the assertion that over 21 million Ghanaians cannot afford a healthy diet? DUBAWA Ghana decided to investigate.
Verification
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) publishes a monitoring report annually for Sustainable Development Goal 2 targets 2.1 and 2.2, which aim to end hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in all its forms.
The report, titled “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI),” tracks global hunger, malnutrition, and diet affordability.
The most recent report was published in August 2025. In this edition, 22.9 million Ghanaians were quoted as unable to afford a healthy diet as of 2024. This was a marginal increase from the 22.4 million indicated for 2023. Ghana’s 22.9 million figure is the third highest in West Africa, behind Nigeria (184.5 million) and Niger (23.3 million).
Pages 147 and 148 of the SOFI 2025 report the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet.
What does “unable to afford a healthy diet” mean?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “affordability means that people can devote enough money to food to purchase locally all the least expensive food items needed to consume a healthy diet. This excludes the possibility of consuming expensive food items if a nutritionally equivalent, lower-cost option is available.”
In Ghana’s case, high food inflation (27.8 per cent) as of December 2024, coupled with household income constraints, pushed millions into this category.
The 2025 SOFI report also indicated that the cost of a healthy diet in Ghana was the sixth highest in West Africa.
Page 141 of the SOFI 2025 report shows the cost of a healthy diet
Conclusion
The claim that over 21 million Ghanaians cannot afford a healthy diet is valid and backed by the FAO’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 report.
