SOLVING TOMATO GLUT IN UPPER EAST REGION (MIRROR, PAGE 27)

First and foremost, as tomato farmers, we can assist in preventing the annual ‘ritual’ of tomato glut by having a strong farmer based organisation. This will provide opportunities to meet and deliberate on challenges that confront us, not only in the area of tomato cultivation and marketing but also of other food crops.
If we are not united, we cannot have a strong voice. I have realised that in other parts of the country where the farmers have formed strong organisations, they are able to have strong voices and are also able to negotiate fair prices for their produce.
In our case, we do not have that strong force. I think therefore, that its about time we came together as farmers, met and deliberated about the challenges that confront us. That to me, will be the first step in addressing the problem of tomato glut.
I am appealling to the Government to revive the Northern Star Tomato Factory and put it in a better shape to assist the hundreds of farmers who cultivate the crop. When this factory is well resourced, farmers would have a source of ready market for their produce and this would protect us from some of the unfair treatments meted out by so-called market queens, who sometimes exploit the farmers during the harvest season.
In addition, Government should as well consider the idea of allowing farmers to be share holders in the factory that way, they would have a stake in the day-to-day activities of the factory and safe guard their interest.

Should Government resource the Northern Star Tomato Factory which is the only processing plant close to the farmers, it would enable the produce of the farmers to be bought at reasonable price.
I also think that it is important that the management of the factory is streamlined. When that is done, management of the factory would have to engage farmers in regular dialogue in order to come out with agreed prices. That way, all forms of suspicion would be removed and the annual exploitation by the market queens will become a thing of the past, since farmers would be assured of good prices when their produce are bought by the factory.
The survival of the farmers would also largely depend on whether the factory could assist them with logistics such as crates and vehicles to transport the produce to the factory. If that is done, coupled with the payment of agreed prices, the annual issue of glut would be addressed and farmers would also be happy.
There should be honesty between farmers and the management of the factory. We need to work hand in hand so that nobody feels cheated at the end of the day.

Tomato is widely grown in this region and there have always been a problem of glut. Glut comes about as a result of unplanned production. It would therefore, be pertinent for farmers to come together and form a strong association to deliberate on the way forward.
For instance, it is important for farmers to know their production levels so that they do not over produce. In addition, farmers must be involved in the various stages of the production processes.
Unfortunately, farmers do not have a strong front, so in the long run, what happens is that there are so many people going into cultivation and this results in excess tomato being produced for the market.
What farmers need to do is come together to form a strong association that will regularly meet and plan. Because such an organisation is not in place, a lot of things have not been achieved.
There is the urgent need for us as farmers to come together. Once that is done, we can confront the challenges facing us and coupled with the resuscitation of the tomato factory, the problem of tomato glut in the region would surely be addressed.


I think the government has to put in place the necessary machinery to facilitate an all-year-round production of tamatoes. That way, our farmers will benefit from their labour.
In this vein, there should be a way to ensure that farmers have ready market for their produce. As such it is important that the Northern Star Tomato Factory which was rehabilitated recently is well resourced so that they can buy directly from the farmers at good prices to shield them from the market queens who usually want to buy at lower prices and cheat the farmers.
There have been situations where in the past, farmers had gone in for loans and were not able to recover due to bad pricing and poor marketing. If our farmers can be assured of good prices then their labour will not be in vain.
I also think that government could intervene by ensuring that farmers are assisted with technical support in terms of seeds and others inputs. When this is done, I believe farmers will be in a position to produce the right quality of crop that will attract good market and good prices.
If possible, tomato farmers should collaborate with their counterparts in Burkina Faso.This will go to assure farmers from Ghana that their produce could also attract market queens from there.
But, the ultimate solution is for the government to do all it can to assist the Northern Star Tomato Factory with funds to enable them to support the farmers in the region with seeds and ready market to avoid the seasonal glut.

Farmers in the region, recognising the difficulties we face, have through the Ministry of Agriculture, initiated a series of meetings with all stakeholders. The meetings are to ensure that all the players in the industry identify their roles and play them effectively to minimise glut.
I believe if we are able to agree on our specific roles for this coming season and play those roles well, the problems that were recorded last season would be avoided, and both farmers and processors will be happy.
Among the problems we had in the past included the lack of understanding among the various stakeholders.
However, I believe the continuous interaction of all the stakeholders will lead to a solution of the problem.
I must say that farmers have become poorer and poorer because in the past we invested a lot of resources and gained nothing. We virtually lost all our investments and that obstructed the attainment of our annual production levels.
That is why this year, we have initiated a series of meetings to ensure that our toil do not go to waste. We hope this time round to make gains and not losses.


There is a need for farmers in the region to re-organise themselves into groups. This will enable them to collate ideas and determine how many of them will go into the production of the various vegetables, including tomato, that is grown in the region and how much acreage to crop.
If they are able to determine their numbers, they can group themselves and work out the acreages based on their numbers.
We are lucky to have a processing plant like the Northern Star Tomato Factory in the region. It is expected that management of the factory would liaise with the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that enough funds are made available to enable them to enter into negotiation with the farmers with regards to the pricing of vegetables produced.
That way, the farmers can be assured of a ready market and this would encourage them to produce more to feed the factory.
This is to alleviate the situation where farmers in the past produced more than the factory could make use of, leading to a glut in the market.
The Ministry of Agriculture will continue to provide the necessary technical assistance to farmers to enable them to produce the right kind of crops.


The Northern Star Tomato Factory has the capacity in terms of machinery to process about 500 metric tons of tomatoes a day. Our major Challenge, though, has been that of funding.
Government support in terms of funding does not come regularly so we continue to face some challenges. All the same, we have been assured that something positive would be done soon to improve the situation, and I am hopeful that the factory will move soon into full scale operations.
With availability of enough funds, the factory is capable of absorbing all the tomato that is cultivated in the region as well as even those grown outside the region.
The issue of glut, low prices, farmers having no avenue to sell their produce emanate from the fact that the factory is not in full operation.
This factory is a 100 per cent owned Ghanaian company, therefore, our main source of funding is from the Government. I am convinced that if funds are made available, we will go into full processing and the annual problem of glut will be a thing of the past.