HELP FIND SOLUTION TO TOMATO GLUT IN UPPER EAST (D/G Monday, June 15,2009 PAGE 36)

“TOMATO glut hits Upper East Region”… “Veep sympathises with Tomato Farmers”… “Farmer commits suicide over tomato glut”…. “Upper East tomato farmers in crisis”.
These are a few headlines that were splashed on the pages of newspapers in the country in the recent past. The headlines discussed one major theme—The annual tomato glut that faces the region almost every year.
More than 80 per cent of farmers in the region are engaged in tomato farming. However, every year, the region faces a tomato glut with its attendant low prices or even lack of market for the produce.
Large quantities of tomatoes produced by the hardworking farmers at Tono, Vea, Pwalugu and other farming communities in the region often go bad for lack of market.
Tomato glut in the Upper East Region has been an annual phenomenon because the farmers do not have reliable markets for their produce. Ironically, the main buyers, known as “market queens” from the southern parts of Ghana who are constantly in unending battles to have better prices, find unorthodox means of constantly exploiting the farmers by delaying the buying of the produce.
Although there is a tomato factory at Pwalugu in the region, christened the Northern Star Tomato factory, which is owned and managed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, lack of funds has been identified as the main problem hindering its full operation. This year for instance, the management of the factory complained that there was no money to purchase the produce thereby putting both the factory and the farmers in an unpleasant situation.
Between February and March, this year, the annual tomato glut phenomenon was recorded and as usual the farmers made the noise to draw the government’s attention to the problem. Some even went to the extent of committing suicide just because they could not withstand the agony of seeing their investments go down the drain.
In view of the problem, the Vice President, His Excellency John Mahatma, visited the region to intervene and within a short period of time, a short term solution was found to the problem.
As an immediate step towards ensuring stable market for the produce, Vice President Mahama said his office would liaise with the Minister of Food and Agriculture and the Minister of Trade and Industries to assist the factory with a capital injection to boost tomato production in the area.
After a tour of the factory, Mr Mahama stressed the need for a feasibility study of the Pwalugu Tomato Factory to enable the government to determine how best it would intervene to keep the factory running all-year-round.
He gave the assurance that he would visit the area again at a future date with the Minister of Food and Agriculture and the Minister of Trade and Industries for detailed assessment of the facility before any definite decisions could be taken.
The Vice President pledged the government’s determination to institute prudent measures to encourage tomato production and processing in the region as part of a long-term plan to create sustainable jobs for the people.
Three months have passed since the Vice President visited the area to assess the tomato glut, yet some stakeholders in the tomato industry seem to have no clue as to what is exactly happening.
During an interaction with a group of tomato farmers in Navrongo recently, they expressed fears that if a solution is not found to the problem, that is, restructuring the factory before the start of the tomato farming season, people were likely to return to the gloomy days of the past where farmers spent huge sums of money in the production of tomatoes only for the produce to go waste because there was no reliable market for them.
Available information has it that the tomato farming season in the Upper East Region starts from August and ends in January. While peasant farmers would start nursing their seedlings in August and transplant them in September, those engaged in commercial farming would start their nurseries in September and transplant them in October.
Checks at the factory, the two ministries concerned in the region and random interviews with some farmers in the region have all drawn blanks.
The Farms Operations Manager of Northern Star Tomato Factory, Mr Kwabena Darkwah, was unable to say what immediate steps had been taken.
He, however, stated that his bosses in Accra were still discussing the way forward for the factory after the visit of the Vice President.
When the National President of the National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association, Mr Philip Abayori, was contacted on the issue on phone, he confirmed that a delegation of farmers had met with the Ministry of Trade and Industry on a proposal that farmers would want to acquire about 30 per cent shares in the factory.
He said for now, they had been made to believe that the government had agreed in principle to collaborate with the farmers in their bid to acquire shares in the factory.
Mr Abayori stated that they (farmers) were working out the modalities because it was their belief that if famers were represented on the board, their interests would be protected and at the end of the day, the annual hullabaloo of tomato glut would be a thing of the past.
He dismissed assertions that there was foot dragging, adding that there was goodwill on the part of the ministry and for that matter the government.
Mr Abayori also expressed the hope that sooner than later some positive news would be heard.” There is no cause for alarm”, he assured.
For now farmers in the region, especially the tomato farmers, have only one plea, and that is, the various stakeholders should act fast in restoring the factory to respond to the marketing needs of their produce.
When it goes into full operation, the factory could also offer employment opportunities for the region’s teeming youth. A stitch in time saves nine.