The Citi TV/Citi FM ‘Back to Your Village’ Food bazaar began on the 25th of March 2023 ended successfully on 26th of March. The two day event was held at the forecourt of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly. The event was full of exciting celebrations to promote the consumption of made-in-Ghana products.

The event began at 8 am with over 30,000 patrons in attendance. The event brought together people from various walks of life and varying cultural backgrounds. There was a wide range of indigenous Ghanaian delicacies. The ‘Back to Your Village ’ Food bazaar was part of events organized by Citi TV to mark Heritage Month in celebration of Ghana’s Independence Day.

Regional minister Henry Quartey gave the event's opening remarks and promised to support it, while Samuel Attah Mensah, managing director of Citi tv/Citi FM, gave an explanation of why the "Back to Your Village" food bazaar was necessary.

Mr. Atta Mensah explained that it was to make sure that the food we grew up knowing was brought back to the shelves. He continued that every food item bought puts a job on the table for a Ghanaian. He ended by saying that the main purpose of the food bazaar was to reverse the trend of promoting and purchasing foreign products and to start promoting indigenous Ghanaian foods.

THE 2023 BACK TO YOUR VILLAGE FOOD BAZAAR

The third edition of the Akple Festival, Ghana’s fast-growing annual food, art, and music party was hosted at the Mmofra place in Dzorwulu- Accra Ghana on the 6th of March to celebrate and promote one of the local dishes in Ghana. Akple is the native food of the Ewes. The event began at 11 am and was hosted by Kelvin John.

The theme for this year’s edition; ‘Discover the good life’, signifies the attractiveness of the Ghanaian culture and the local food not only to the indigenes but to people from all over the world. Music, dance, art, and cultural display decorated the food event, adding emphasis to the richness of Ghanaian culture and local food. There were many food vendors serving Akple with pepper and aborbi (small fishes used in the preparation of the meal).

The Adaha dance band satisfied the crowd with good melodies and music as they happily danced. The Akple festival ended at about 11 pm. Delali Mbappe stated; “I left there completely drenched in sweat”. This denotes how successful and fun the event turned out.

2023 Akple Festival

The maiden edition of the 3FM Gob3 Festival 2023 was held on the 4th of March, at the Tetteh Quarshie interchange near the Accra mall. The event was hot and brought together different people to celebrate Gob3 as one of Ghana’s delicious and healthy dishes made of beans, fried ripe plantain, red oil, and gari with optional extras.

The event was adorned with interesting activities such as music and dance, eating competitions, snooker games, ludo dice, and cards, among others. Various gob3 vendors from across the city graced the event. Some of the well-known brands that were featured at the event were Gino, Malta Guinness, and Jerry’s cocktail.

Before 2 pm, the event experienced a Gob3 shortage as the place was flooded with lovers of gob3. Several vendors had to cook new pots of gob3 to satisfy the hungry crowd. It is worth noting that Gob3 was duly consumed by almost all the people present before the end of the occasion. This clearly shows the love Ghanaians have for Gob3.

The purpose of the Gob3 festival is to promote our native Ghanaian food worldwide. 

“… everybody is talking about gob3”

, MOG explains. When asked about what is going on, Johnnie Hughes further threw more light on gob3 by saying; 

“… everybody likes it, it’s affordable, it’s available...” “… let everybody enjoy Ghana man food as we try to celebrate everything made in Ghana...”.

The event ended successfully at about 6 pm with a handful of people still hanging around to enjoy the atmosphere.

Sally Reigns, a student of the UNIMAC-GIJ who attended the event said; 

“… It was a very good initiative because it wasn’t only about the gob3. They did this to bring people together from various perspectives. We are in Ghana month and we are patronizing Ghana, gob3 is our food so it was a way of patronizing Ghana”.

THE 3FM GOB3 FESTIVAL 2023

The Ghana Food Based Dietary Guidelines was successfully launched at the Omanye Aba hall – Accra Metropolitan Assembly (A.M.A) new office complex on the 22nd of February 2023. Ghana is now the eighth country in Africa and the fourth in West- Africa to launch food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG). Ghana Food Based Dietary Guidelines are based on the latest scientific evidence and provide a roadmap for healthy eating.

The event began at 11 am, with Professor Anna Lartey, a professor of nutrition at the University of Ghana, as chair of the event. She stated that a country should have food-based dietary guidelines because “you are making a statement that this is how we want our citizens to eat. So, the document is government-owned, saying this is how we want our citizens to eat to remain healthy.” She made mentioned the fact that poor diet is a major cause of disease and death among people, hence the need for food-based dietary guidelines.

The cause is that Ghanaians prefer imported foods that are highly processed to the nutritious foods the country has been blessed with. The FBDG is to help incorporate Ghana’s indigenous foods to promote a healthy diet. Professor Lartey further emphasized this by saying; “What has been done for us today, is significant- it’s good for every Ghanaian and hopefully, we will see this translated in our lives”. Some special guests included; Mr. Yaw Frimpong Addo, a deputy minister of Food and Agriculture and Professor Richmond Aryeetey, co-chair of the Multi-stakeholder Technical Task Team

The launch was very educative and included the explanation of the 45-pager booklet that recommends the daily assumption of healthy fruits and vegetables, the right intake of water, healthy fat in moderation, ensuring food safety, and regular exercising of the human body to facilitate a healthy life for Ghanaians.

Dr. Francis Kasolo, World Health Organization country representative of Ghana who gave a message on behalf of the UN Resident Coordinator in Ghana - Mr. Charles Abani stated; “The United Nation’s system in Ghana is proud to have provided the technique or expertise and financial support in producing Ghana’s maiden food best dietary guidelines”. He thanked the food and agricultural organization and the world health organization for the support rendered.

He further stated; “…the food-based dietary guidelines are not to provide publicity for a specific food, food group or a situation or meal standards or general dietary guidelines but rather constitute important evidence-informed to and a framework for promoting healthy diets and sustainable food systems and guide adopting healthier lifestyles, food-related government policies and program design and implementation”. He also stated that the UN would continue to support the government’s efforts to disseminate and implement the guidelines.

THE LAUNCH OF THE GHANA FOOD-BASED DIETARY GUIDELINES

The high cost of food in Accra markets due to the extreme effects of the harmattan season on farmlands has both sellers and buyers complaining even after the appreciation of the cedi to the dollar, especially our local foods that do not seem to be imported.

It is that time of the year again when they experience the full effect of the northeast trade winds that makes them conscious of the ending of a long 365 days and the beginning of another 365 days. At this time, Christians celebrate the festive season of Christmas and new year, where food becomes a major commodity and plays a significant role in their celebrations.

With the recent appreciation of the cedi to the dollar, it is only ideal that the insanely high prices of food would dramatically be decreased, but instead, buyers walk through the markets only to find out that harmattan has decided the amount of food and type of food to be used in celebration as the cost of food commodities rise.

The northern part of the country experiences severe dryness during this season, even the southern parts like Accra can feel and experience its effects as food prices no longer seem the same. During this severe dryness which is caused by the northeast trade winds, bushfires become a threat and cause farmers to increase the price of food to cover up for the shortage of food.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Harmattan

Harmattan has its advantages like few malaria recorded cases due to reduced mosquito activity, less sweating due to a very dry environment, and quicker drying time for laundry. Vegetables like onions, corn, beans, and other leafy vegetables become easy to preserve especially after the reduction of onions from 1500 ghs to 1200 ghs after the recent appreciation of the Ghana cedi.

However, amid all its advantages also come its disadvantages such as poor visibility, rapid accumulation of dirt, dryness of skin and the major problem which has caused a very high cost of food in the market is the low amount of rainfall that has caused a reduction in crop harvest.

Local food vendors complain about the cost of okra and other food ingredients.” We are forced to sell our okra stews separately even after buying ‘banku’ because okra is too expensive. We can’t buy anymore” says Mrs Hannah Adjei, a street food vendor at Suncity, Accra.

A short interview with an okra seller at the Ashaiman under-bridge market revealed that okra is now expensive as a result of no rainfall during this season. Her reply to the question as to why food commodities are still expensive was;” the rains no longer come because of the dry season, so our vegetables become expensive”. Another okra seller from the market responded,” it is because we are celebrating the Christmas season, that is why our prices have gone up.

From the Ashaiman market, we get the chance to speak to Miss Benedicta. Benedicta is one of the okra sellers in the market. She said; "okra was sold between seven to ten okra for 50 pesewas but now, because of the harmattan, I sell okra between four to five for 1 cedi.” This has been another effect of the harmattan in this festive season.

As a result of the severe impact of harmattan on farmlands, cassava has suddenly become scarce as farmers find it difficult to cultivate cassava from the hard grounds. Miss. Adjei, a fufu seller, shares her experience;” I sell fufu at 5cedis but it’s now difficult to get cassava, and when I do get some, it’s usually in small quantity and expensive. I now sell fufu at 7 cedis.”

It has become clear just how much harmattan has affected food prices in this festive season when people celebrate Christmas and new year.

Harmattan’s Effect On Food Prices; Food Shortages In Ghana.

As the new year is being introduced, Consumers complain about the cost of meat when the season demands meat and food for celebrations. People can’t do without meat for the basic reason that most local foods in Ghana require the use of meat in preparation aside from the fact that it is a great source of protein.

Meat in Accra is expensive enough to double the cost of food ingredients needed to prepare a simple meal. Venturing into the Ashaiman meat market to discuss the issue with some butchers revealed some reasons why consumers complain a lot about the cost of meat in Ghana.

Alhassan Nurudeen is one of the butchers in the meat market to speak about the cost of meat in Ghana. According to Alhassan, Ghanaians do not like farming so most of their meat is being imported from Benin and Burkina Faso. He explains that, when meat is bought from Burkina Faso using CFA, they have to make sure that it is being sold in cedis to arrive at a total amount of their capital and profits when converted to the CFA.

Alhassan further emphasized this by stating that; “getting meat from local cows in the country will only serve us for two days before we get a shortage of cattle in the country.” This paints a picture of the type of economy Ghana portrays and how it affects agriculture.

Abdullah, who is also into the meat business, laments how imported meat from Burkina Faso, coupled with the price of transport to bring the meat to the local markets to be purchased by consumers makes meat expensive. According to Abdullah, the price of meat has not changed and it’s still the same due to the reason that price is determined by the CFA.

Issahaku Alhassan has been a butcher with his brother Nurudeen for many years, and he discloses that meat is not as expensive as local food vendors make it seem. He explains that he cuts meat for sellers at three cedis and four cedis but the average cost of meat at the food market is sold for seven cedis. This is the main reason why we have consumers complaining.

Information from all the various butchers concludes that meat prices would not change whether there is a depreciation or appreciation of the dollar to cedis for the basic reason that the price of meat is dependent on other factors such as imports, transport, and the value of the CFA.

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