Trade data from the Ghana Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association indicates that annual tomato imports from neighboring Burkina Faso have hit US$400 mln from an estimated US$99.5 mln in 2018. Ghana currently imports 90 percent of its fresh tomato from Burkina Faso, with the current national consumption demand of tomatoes is in excess of 800,000 metric tons per annum.
The president of Ghana Vegetables, Dr. Felix Kamassah, however, attributed the rising imports and slump in local production to the cost of fertilizer and quality seeds and the lack of mechanization and machinery.
Ghana Vegetables, he indicated, is focusing on saving at least half of the amount internally by boosting production and increasing supply up to at least 40 percent. More than 70 percent of tomato supply in major supermarkets and malls in Ghana are sourced from the Netherlands, Burkina Faso, and other countries, data from Ghana Vegetables has shown.
Source: peacefmonline.com