We can be self-sufficient in tomatoes
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture last week disclosed that the government is in the process of procuring 13 tonnes of different varieties of tomato seeds for distribution to farmers to bolster local production of the vegetable crop.
The initiative was the latest announcement of state interventions intended to boost local production of the crop in order to make the country self-sufficient in tomato production.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, who made the announcement at an engagement with the media in Accra, stated that the new seeds would be improved varieties with an improved yield profile.
Those varieties would also have more durable shelf life.
According to the minister, the measure has become necessary in order to reduce importation of the crop to the barest minimum.
The economic cost of imports for consumption is a painful drain on a nation’s foreign exchange resources, and Ghana’s awakening to this reality is not belated, even if it is generally not an impressive remark on the nation.
After all, the decision comes at a time of uncertainty over the country’s self-sufficiency in tomato after the northern neighbour, Burkina Faso, announced a shut to export of the crop about two weeks ago.
Burkina Faso has been a major source of tomatoes for the Ghanaian market.
According to a recent report by the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana, Ghana spends about GH¢760 million annually on tomato imports.
The chamber further estimated that about GH¢250 million worth of locally produced tomatoes rot annually due to the lack of appropriate storage facilities.
The annual national tomato requirement is estimated to be about 806,000 tonnes, while current production stands at around 510,000 tonnes.
The deficit of nearly 300,000 tonnes of tomato is often filled through imports, the greater part of it from Burkina Faso.
As the minister admitted, the intervention had become necessary following a widening gap between national demand and local production.
Ghana’s tomato production constraints, it must be stated, are not limited to a deficit in mere production; it also has to do with the quality and durability of the varieties in the local production chain.
Indeed, low productivity per hectare has remained a major challenge, according to the minister, who further stressed that while countries such as Burkina Faso recorded yields of about 18 tonnes per hectare, Ghana averaged only eight tonnes per hectare.
This is why finding a solution to the production gap does not lie merely in increased land cultivation. It will also depend on the quality of varieties, the yield per hectare profile of the varieties and the shelf life of the varieties, among other factors.
“We must focus on developing high-yielding varieties that can perform well under our ecological conditions,” Mr Opoku said. But even more reassuring is the revelation that a collaboration with research institutions was ongoing to help increase yields to at least 15 tonnes per hectare.
The virtual scramble to solve the tomato “self-insufficiency” problem has generally exposed the deficits in Ghana’s agricultural development.
It reveals the inadequacies of policies and programmes intended to address agricultural issues over the years.
In recent times, the Mechanisation of Agriculture in Ghana programme and the Planting for Food and Jobs I and II were designed as separate solutions to agricultural food production issues in the country.
It yields nothing good in issuing blame over deficiencies in policy implementation and outcomes.
But we still have an opportunity to right the deficits of the past, and chart a new path of progress where boom will attend our efforts.
It is refreshing to hear the variety of interventions being advanced by the government to improve general agricultural production.
These include a heavy investment in irrigation to ensure all-year-round production.
The emerging concerns are enough warning against sitting aloof or pretending to take action. Reality has no biases, and time will reveal how much effort we put in to ensure a fruitful implementation of the many laudable policies and programmes.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, urges the government to harmonise all the agriculture policies and programmes under the broader Feed Ghana Programme to achieve self-sufficiency in food production.
