Tomato traders warn of shortages and price surge following Burkina Faso terrorist attacks

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Makay
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Tomato traders

Tomato traders and importers in Accra have warned of a possible shortage and price surge following Burkina Faso terrorist attacks.

 The traders called on the government to invest in local irrigation infrastructure to boost domestic production, arguing that investment would reduce Ghana’s dependence on imports.

According to Esther Owusu Ansah, a tomato importer for over 30 years, traders may soon stop travelling to Burkina Faso if adequate security is not guaranteed.

Speaking to Citi Business News, Esther Owusu Ansah stated, “If the government and security agencies do not provide us with adequate protection, we will not bother travelling to Burkina Faso anymore. Our drivers have families, and they cannot risk their lives just to transport tomatoes”.

She further detailed that they receive escorts often arranged up to Paga; however, the journey beyond remains uncertain.

“Our Chairman usually arranges security escort up to Paga, but beyond that point, we do not know what may happen. Because of these risks, we are even beginning to reconsider importing tomatoes altogether. Many of the tomatoes we get are usually rotten.”

Queenmother of the CMB Underbridge branch in Accra, identified as Otumfuo Charity, warned that some traders from Togo may attempt to exploit the disruption.

“Some of these traders use routes through northern Togo under the pretext of selling to their counterparts, but they end up selling the tomatoes directly to Ghanaian traders. We want to make it clear that we will not accept this, and we will issue a warning against such practices”, Otumfuo Charity explained.

Also, Kwame Siaw, a driver, stated, “Now, we may be compelled to find other alternative sources of livelihood… but that kind of work is not sustainable.”

“With fewer tomatoes on the market, prices will become more expensive. Since the main trucks that transport tomatoes from Burkina Faso are no longer coming, we will be left sitting here idle. How then will we take care of our families?”, he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Agriculture Minister 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”.

The Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, speaking on JOYFM The Pulse on Tuesday, 17 February, further detailed efforts to stabilise tomato supply and reduce Ghana’s reliance on imports.

John Dumelo stated, “I just came back from the Bono East region, but I’ll be going back to be able to interact with the traders and see how best we can help them to solve our problems, our tomato demand in Ghana.”

“When you look at some of our irrigation schemes, especially the ones in the north — when you go to Tono Dam, around the Navrongo area — currently most of the farmers are farming tomatoes, but it’s on a much smaller scale. It’s more or less like a trial stage where we want to scale it up before the year ends or next year.”

“If you also go to our irrigation schemes, there are some tomato-growing farmers there, as we speak, that would have their tomatoes maybe in about two or three months’ time. All these schemes are the ones that we want to scale up, hopefully by next year.”

He added, “We’ve distributed some solar — or we’re about to distribute some solar water pumps to vegetable farmers across the country. And then the water pumps that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources seized from galamsey operators — we distributed some last year, over a thousand of them, to small-scale vegetable farmers across the country.”

“Hopefully, when all these come on board, we’ll be able to mitigate our production of tomatoes and other vegetables across the country.”

“I’m very hopeful that next year, by this time, most of the trips that are going to Burkina Faso will reduce. When all these programmes come on board, hopefully we’ll be able to reduce our traders from going to Burkina Faso to get tomatoes.”

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