Government urged to support tomatoes farmers with new hybrid

Government has been urged to assist farmers with varieties of the new tomato hybrid to help boost production in the country.

Senior research scientist and head of horticulture of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Kwasi Offei Bonsu made this appeal while speaking at the end of the Ghana-Indian pilot research project on tomato production technologies. He said this will create more jobs, boost trade and address problems associated with tomato cultivation.

Tomato is one vegetable which is consumed on a daily basis in Ghana. Ghanaians consume tomatoes in excess of a 100,000 metric tonnes annually. Unfortunately, consumption outweighs production in the country, making Ghana a net importer of tomato.

The little that is produced in the country faces challenges such as inadequate storage facilities and poor road network to transport the produce, resulting in tonnes of tomatoes going waste.

In trying to overcome these challenges, India’s National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) has implemented a joint project with the Soil Research Institute of CSIR.

The project seeks to conduct applied research in the agro-climatic regions with a view to evolving effective cultivation techniques and measures to achieve higher yield of good quality tomato under local conditions.

Chairman and Managing Director of the National Research Development Directorate, Dr Purushotham, added his voice to calls on government to support farmers and help address problems associated with tomato cultivation.