The Vegetable and Tomato Producers Association has revealed that Ghana spends not less than US$800 million annually to import tomatoes from neighbouring Burkina Faso.
The association added that this whopping amount is spent to bring in some 800 metric tonnes of the fruit per annum.
According to the association, Ghana is likely to be hit by a scarcity of tomatoes next year because of the instability in neighbouring Burkina Faso and some weather patterns in that country.
The association further noted that 90 per cent of Ghana’s tomato intake is from Burkina Faso.
The President of the association, Dr Felix Kamassah, painted this gloomy picture of the state of Ghana’s tomato consumption when he spoke in an interview with Korku Lumor, host of the 505 evening news analysis programme on Tuesday, 18 October 2022.
He said the situation will be even direr if steps are not taken for the country’s farmers to do all-round farming in the year.
For his part, the Public Relations Officer of the ministry of food and agriculture, Mr Tanko Bagbarah, said the ministry is working to have the situation remedied under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme and Ghana CARES (Obaatan pa) project under the ministry of finance.
He said Ghana has a huge potential for tomato growth but the dams to irrigate the farms are the challenge.
According to him, issues with tomatoes have become a national priority.
Hence, “last year, the ministry called for a national tomato dialogue to see what the Burkinabes are doing that we aren’t doing here to sustain production,” Dr Felix Kamassah said.
“Our import bill is huge, in terms of rice and tomatoes,” he added, but failed to put a figure to it.
He said the way forward is irrigation, where farmers can farm all year round.
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