Tomato farmers call for help

The Welfare Chairman for the Ghana Tomatoes Association, Mr. Peter Boasiako, has appealed to government and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), to assist the Tomato Farmers Association of Ghana in overcoming the mountain of problems they have faced over the last years.

Making a passionate appeal via Peace FM’s evening news, Mr. Boasiako recounted several challenges that have crippled the association. According to him, the inability of farmers to grow more tomatoes in Ghana after the Christmas season to meet the market demand has necessitated the incessant importation of the commodity from Burkina Faso.

The association's inability to mobilise adequate funds, made it very difficult for them to buy the item from farmers in Burkina Faso.

He explained that for this reason some tomato farmers in Ghana who were fortunate to have enough capital, have denounced their membership and made solo strides to bring in the product in large quantities.

Mr. Boasiako established that this move was killing the essence of forming the association whilst their other colleagues were making monies through their direct trade with the Burkinabes.

He called on government to intervene in the situation to help solve the disintegration which has rocked the association to ensure that the poor tomatoes farmers can also make profit out of the business.