The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) on Tuesday, September 1, received a high-level delegation from the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and The Coca-Cola Company to discuss Ghana’s evolving food and nutrition policy environment and explore opportunities for stronger collaboration between government and industry.
The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) on Tuesday, September 1, received a high-level delegation from the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and The Coca-Cola Company to discuss Ghana’s evolving food and nutrition policy environment and explore opportunities for stronger collaboration between government and industry.
The engagement provided an opportunity for the delegation to gain first-hand insights into Ghana’s food and nutrition policy landscape and understand the policy direction shaping the sector.
It also explored areas of collaboration to support public health, innovation, investment, competitiveness and sustainable economic growth.
Opening the engagement, Director-General of the NDPC, Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, outlined the Commission’s constitutional and legal mandate and its role in policy formulation, development planning, monitoring and evaluation.
She explained that the Commission supports successive Presidents in preparing the Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies (CPESDP), which sets out the President’s vision and priorities for national development. The Commission also develops the Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework (MTNDPF) to guide implementation.
Dr Amoah noted that the current MTNDPF covers 2026–2029 and provides the framework for Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other implementing institutions to prepare their plans in line with national development priorities.
She further highlighted the Commission’s role in coordinating Ghana’s decentralised planning system, monitoring implementation and reporting annually on the country’s development progress.
Presenting on Ghana’s evolving food and nutrition policy environment, Mr Nii-Odoi Odotei, Principal Planning Analyst at the NDPC, highlighted the country’s triple burden of malnutrition, comprising undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and rising overweight and obesity.
He noted that, as of 2022, 17.4 percent of children were stunted and six per cent experienced wasting, while anaemia affected about 49 percent of children under five and 41 percent of women of reproductive age.
Mr Odotei further linked changing dietary patterns to urbanisation, changing incomes, inflation, climate pressures and increased exposure to highly processed foods.
He stressed the need for a whole food-systems approach covering production, storage, transportation, markets, consumption and food waste.
He explained that Ghana is developing four complementary policy interventions: Food Marketing Restrictions, Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling, Food-Related Fiscal Policy and Public Food Provisioning, to improve the food environment.
He noted that the policies are being informed by evidence from the nutrition profiling system developed by the Food and Drugs Authority and its partners.
Mr Odotei also emphasised the need for regulatory impact assessments and broad stakeholder consultations, particularly with businesses that would be directly affected by the proposed measures.
Mr Shiletsi Makhofane, Senior Director and Public Policy Lead, Africa, The Coca-Cola Company, welcomed the Commission’s openness to wider consultation and expressed the Association’s readiness to engage throughout the policy process.
He highlighted the potential cost of regulatory compliance, particularly in relation to imported products, packaging, labelling and branding, and stressed the importance of giving businesses clarity on proposed standards and thresholds.
“We are open to engagement,” he said, noting that continued dialogue would help industry better understand the proposed policies and prepare for implementation.
Dr Amoah, in closing, reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to consultation, coordination and stakeholder participation in national policy development.
She stressed that meaningful engagement was essential to building ownership, ensuring that policies were responsive to stakeholder concerns, and creating a stronger basis for effective implementation and monitoring of Ghana’s development outcomes.
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