Features
Tomatoes glut but imports rise: A national policy failure
Every harvest season in northern Ghana witnesses tomato glut, a familiar and disturbing scene that is perennial. Vans loaded with fresh tomatoes queue along dusty roads. Piles of ripe tomatoes are left at the mercy of the weather. Farmers slash prices so low in desperation to avoid total loss. Banks loans fall due. Meanwhile, supermarkets’ shelves across the country are stocked with imported tomato pastes.
This contradiction is not as a result of farmer inefficiency. It is the outcome of a long-standing national policy failure.
Post-harvest loss in Ghana has reached an alarming level and the tomato glut exposes this crisis more clearly than almost any other crop. Studies on perishables suggest losses can be very high often tens of percent when transport, cold storage and processing are weak. Until Ghana invests in cold chain, processing, and import discipline, bumper harvests will keep bankrupting farmers while the country keeps importing paste.
These losses are not simply numbers; they shape real lives. When markets are overwhelmed, prices collapse, forcing farmers to sell at a loss or watch their produce spoil.
These losses translate into reduced incomes, heightened vulnerability, and limited economic opportunities for rural communities (World Bank, 2023). This phenomenon has caused job losses of farm hands and demotivation for potential farmers. Recently tomato gluts in Akomadan and its environs produce tonnes of tomatoes rotten due to poor food supply chain as discussed on Citi breakfast show in February 2026.
For example, in Navrongo, so much tomato is produced there but not processed. This was the reason Pwalugu Tomato Factory has been established to curb the problem but successive governments have failed to operationalise the tomato factory, yet we spend millions of dollars to import tomato paste.
Based on recent reports from the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana (2026), this is a major paradox: while Ghana experiences tomato gluts during peak seasons, the country simultaneously loses approximately GH¢5.7 billion annually due to heavy reliance on import, poor post-harvest management and weak processing infrastructure (MoFA 2026).
This report should not be swept under the carpet. This is a wake-up call for governments to take pragmatic steps to resolve the issue.
It is fair to say that imports can stabilise prices in lean seasons. But uncontrolled imports during peak harvest collapse farmgate prices and discourage production. The answer is not permanent protectionism; it is rules-based import windows plus domestic processing capacity.
A Five-Point Action Plan to stop tomato gluts as seasonal drama
• MoFA and MMDAs must establish aggregation centres and packhouses at key producing nodes. This must be done within the next 12 months.
• Private sector and development finance should establish solar-backed cold rooms and transport pilots which must be completed within the next 24 months.
• MoTI and Customs should formulate rules-based seasonal import management to prevent harvest-time dumping as a matter of urgency possibly within the next 6 months.
• MoTI and investors must revive tomato processing factories and expand them and possibly build new ones which can enable Ghana export tomato paste instead of importing. This should be done within the next 36 months.
• GSS and MoFA should have a value-chain loss measurement dashboard to be published quarterly which should inform policy directives. This should be done within 12 months. Reducing tomato gluts is both achievable and urgent.
Better data is also essential. Ghana currently lacks a comprehensive, standardised measurement of food loss within specific value chains. Without reliable data, policy responses remain fragmented and reactive.
Integrating food loss indicators into national agricultural statistics would strengthen accountability and support progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 1, 2 and 3 which aims to halve food waste globally by 2030 (United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP], 2021).
The tomato value chain reveals a simple truth: food waste in Ghana is not inevitable. It is the result of policy choices, investment priorities, and governance gaps. Tomatoes rotting in northern Ghana while tomato paste is imported is not merely an economic contradiction; it is a national policy failure. This policy failure may lead to food safety and food security problems.
The paradox of allowing our bumper harvest of tomatoes to rot and yet import tomato paste must be stopped immediately.
By Dorcas Agyarko Anfobea
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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