The accuracy of Food Balance Sheets (FBS) data has been questioned because of data gaps in the
underlying statistics and several methodological limitations (Gabbert and Weikard 2001; Nube 2001;
Smith 1998; Svedberg, 1999, 2002). One of the main criticisms is that per capita food supply available in
a country for human consumption—referred to as ‘food availability’ here—is calculated as the residual of
total quantity of foodstuffs produced; plus the total quantity imported; minus the total quantity exported;
adjusted to any change in stocks; and minus the total quantities used for livestock feed and seed, put to
manufacture for food and nonfood uses, and lost during storage and transportation. Hence, the accuracy
of this residual value depends on the accuracy and completeness of the statistics of all other variables of
the food equation, which are usually collected by different national organizations/ministries, often
applying different methods and probably varying rigor. Data for some variables or certain years of a
variable are often missing or are unreliable, which requires making assumptions to construct the residual
value. Macronutrient (calorie, protein, and fat) availability values are directly derived from the food
availability values. The potential accuracy of the macronutrient availability values may be even lower than
that of the food availability values, because just a few food items constitute the main macronutrient
sources (especially in the case of protein and fat), so small inaccuracies in the quantities of these foods
can result in large biases in overall macronutrient availability values.
For Ghana, the FBS data indicate that the per capita calorie availability at the time of the fifth round of
the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS) in 2005–2006 was about 2,700 kcal per day. This value appears
to somewhat overstate the actual average per capita calorie consumption, considering that the
physiological dietary energy requirements for a man of average Ghanaian stature with moderate physical
activity level are 2,650 kcal per day (FAO et al. 2001) and that 30 percent of the population were estimated
to have consumed less than 1,800 kcal per day in 2005–2006, using the GLSS data (Coulombe and Wodon
2012). Beyond potential data and methodological errors, lower survey-based consumption values may be
due to food waste occurring within the household (during storage, in meal preparation, as plate waste,
and with quantities fed to domestic animals or thrown away), which is not accounted for in the FBS
(FAOSTAT 2016).