Bolgatanga (U/E) Feb. 27 GNA- The Northern Star Tomato
Factory (NSTF) has started buying tomatoes from local
farmers in the Upper East Region. Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, to
find out how MOTI was facilitating the tomato industry in the
Upper East Region, Mr Joshua Azure, Regional officer of the
Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) said the days when
tomato farmers committed suicide over lack of market for their
produce was now a thing of the past. He said MOTI had not only assisted the Northern Star
Tomato Company (NSTC) with funds to do the purchases
from the farmers but had equipped the factory with necessary
materials and paying the skeletal staff until it hands over to a
private investor who would run the business of the company. He said the problems the farmers faced were perennial and
dealing with perishable produce. He said it was difficult to avoid situations where the
tomatoes of farmers would not ripe at the same time. He said funds released for the company to do the
purchases did not arrive in good time, but assured the farmers
that things would return to normal now that the purchases had
started. He added that three vehicles had been arranged, to carry the
produce to the factory. Mr Kwabena Darkwa, farm manager of NSTC said the
factory as at Friday had received 2000 forty kilo crates which it
was buying from the farmers at GHc7.00 each. He said though the factory had started work the vacuum
pumps needed for changing the juice into a concentrate was
faulty and electricians were working around the clock to put it
back to work. He said the machines were to run for eight hours each day
and expected to produce 500 tonnes of tomato concentrate.
