The Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE) has called for engineering to take a central role in addressing Ghana’s food security challenges, stressing that sustainable solutions must go beyond traditional farming approaches.
Presenting a report to the media weeks after the institution’s Annual General Meeting and Engineering Conference, GhIE President, Ing. Ludwig Annang Hesse said the country’s food challenges are deeply rooted in systemic inefficiencies that require technical and engineering-driven interventions.
Speaking at the offices of the GhIE in Accra on Tuesday, APril 14, Ing. Hesse said issues such as post-harvest losses, limited mechanisation, poor infrastructure, and climate variability continue to undermine agricultural productivity and food availability across the country.
He explained that engineering solutions are critical across the entire agricultural value chain — from irrigation and land preparation to storage, processing, and distribution.
"Food security remains one of the most critical challenges confronting our nation. Across the country, we continue to face significant post-harvest losses, limited mechanisation, infrastructure gaps, increasing climate variability, inefficiencies, in storage, transportation and processing further compound the situation. These are not isolated agriculturral problems; they are systemsic challenges that require deliberate and coordinated engineering solutions," he said.
"One of the most important outcomes of this conference is a clear and unified position: Engineering must take its rightful place at the centre of Ghana's agricultural transformation. For so long, engineering has been treated as a support function within agriculture. That approach is no longer sufficient," he stressed.
Ing. Hesse also urged policymakers and stakeholders to prioritise investments in irrigation systems to support year-round farming, while also promoting mechanised agriculture and data-driven practices to improve efficiency.
He further emphasised the need to strengthen infrastructure, particularly road networks, to ease the transportation of food from production centres to markets.
The GhIE also highlighted the importance of expanding storage facilities, including cold-chain systems, to reduce post-harvest losses, as well as increasing investment in agro-processing to add value to agricultural produce.
Additionally, the institution advocated the adoption of renewable energy solutions in agriculture and called for stronger collaboration between industry, academia, and government to drive innovation and build technical capacity.
The call forms part of broader efforts to position engineering as a key driver of Ghana’s agricultural transformation and long-term food security.
