Some angry farmers have told the Deputy Agriculture Minister, John Dumelo, that market queens are the ones determining the prices of their produce.
According to the angry farmers, the market queens are determining the price of their crop produce favourable to themselves.
They argued that the Market queens have been creating an alleged scarcity in the system to create a backlog.
The farmers at the Zaare irrigation farms further expressed frustration over their rotting ripe peppers, as they lack market access due to buyers only buying from them on Sunday and Wednesday, adding that people who do not buy within those stated days are tormented.
Speaking ot the Deputy Agriculture Minister during his visit to the Zaare irrigation farms, one of the farmers stated, “If you don’t join that group, you cannot buy pepper; if you buy pepper, they will torment you. The same thing happens in Kumasi and in Accra, which is what is causing the backlog. In a week, they have only Sunday and Wednesday to buy”.
“Meanwhile, we have to harvest every day, they did that to cause scarcity in the city and cause rot ot backlog here, and that is our headache. We tried on our own years back to break this chain or this cartel. It is not the value chain, but it is these market queens are determining the prices favourable to them. The farmers are here. Am I lying?
“We are happy you are here. One more thing, there is a total disconnect between us, the farmers, Agric and other stakeholders, that is a fact, today if they ask the Ministry of Agric, they don’t have the total number of pepper that is cultivated in the Bolga Municipality, not to talk of the rest of the Upper East region”, he added.
Also, the Agric Minister in 2025 blamed middlemen for the high food prices in urban areas.
According to the Agric Minister, middlemen between the farmers and the urban area buy cheaply from farmers and sell at ‘throat-cutting’ prices to the consumers.
Eric Opoku highlighted that farmers are currently selling food crops at lower prices than at the start of harvest season.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, Eric Opoku explained, “When you go to the production point, the farmers are complaining that they were selling a truck of yams at GH¢7,000. When they started harvesting, it came down to GH¢4,000, and it is now hovering around GH¢3,000 and GH¢2,000 at the farm gate”.
Eric Opoku added, “We have some people also posing as middlemen between the farmers and urban areas, and they are engaging in profiteering, trying to enjoy abnormal profit. They buy cheaply from the farmers and sell at ‘throat-cutting’ prices to the consumers. The prices are better than before”.
“When you get to the mall, some of the food items are imported, and the prices cannot be compared to those in the local market now because the local ones are now cheaper than the imported ones,” he stressed.
He further added, “We, as a government, have decided to produce to feed Ghanaians; they must reciprocate our gesture by eating Ghana for us”.
In related news, John Dumelo has announced that Ghana is on course to achieve large-scale domestic tomato production by the end of 2026.
According to John Dumelo, trials are underway at irrigation schemes to reduce reliance on imports from Burkina Faso.
The Deputy Minister further stressed that the Mahama government has a long-term plan to cut Ghana’s dependency on tomatoes from Burkina Faso by between 20 and 30 per cent beginning next year.
John Dumelo is quoted by a TV3 news flyer shared on social to have said, “Ghana on track for full-scale tomato production by year-end 2026”.
Watch the video below:
An angry farmer confronted Deputy Agriculture Minister John Dumelo during his visit to the Zaare irrigation farms, expressing frustration over the rotting of ripe pepper and the lack of market access.#3NewsGH #TV3GH pic.twitter.com/txWtm1Y6Y5
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) February 23, 2026