Ghana risks long-term food insecurity and loss of food sovereignty if it fails to implement policies that protect the rights of peasants and rural workers, the United Nations Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas has warned.
The group said although Ghana had developed several policies and ratified international and regional human rights instruments, implementation remained a major challenge that needed urgent attention.
It identified a range of factors affecting peasant farmers, including external pressures, the land tenure system, climate change, illegal mining (galamsey), weaknesses in the seed system, limited economic participation and the exclusion of rural communities from decision-making processes.
A member of the Working Group, Professor Uche Ofodile, gave the warning at a press briefing in Accra yesterday after a 10-day working visit to parts of the country.
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The visit, undertaken at the invitation of the government, was to assess the human rights situation of peasants and other rural workers, including small-scale farmers, fisherfolk and pastoralists.
Prof. Ofodile said the long-term consequences for Ghana could be severe if policies and ratified international instruments were not effectively implemented.
She explained that the country could face both food and nutritional insecurity, particularly as environmental degradation including the contamination of water bodies through illegal mining affected food quality and safety.
Prof. Ofodile added that the issue also had national security implications, noting that heavy dependence on food imports could leave the country vulnerable.
She observed that peasants were often treated as mere subjects of development policy, despite being the backbone of Ghana's food production.
Prof. Ofodile stressed the need for stronger support from international and regional institutions to help Ghana address the structural challenges confronting rural producers.
She cautioned that Ghana's transformation agenda could disadvantage rural communities if it continued to prioritise large-scale, export-oriented agriculture at the expense of family-based farming systems.
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On land tenure, she warned that the growing commodification of customary and family lands could weaken or erode the rights of smallholder and subsistence farmers.
She noted that although legal and dispute-resolution mechanisms existed, barriers such as cost, limited access to information and unequal power relations often left farmers vulnerable to land dispossession and loss of livelihoods.
Prof. Ofodile said implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) would help Ghana align its human rights commitments with its development goals.
She urged the government to ensure that peasants including farmers, fishers and pastoralists were actively involved in decision-making processes that affected them.
She also called for the establishment of formal consultation platforms at both district and national levels, with adequate resources and real decision-making authority to enable meaningful participation.
Prof. Ofodile said the Working Group stood ready to collaborate with stakeholders, including civil society organisations and the media, to advocate the protection of peasants' rights, although it did not have enforcement powers.
