Tomato prices have fallen by 50% in 6 months – Agric minister

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, has asserted that prices of foodstuffs on the market have seen a downward trend over the past few months.

Speaking to Francis Abban on State of Affairs, the Abetifi MP added that tomatoes particularly have seen a 50% drop in price over the last 6 months.

“Six months ago, a box of tomatoes was 100ghc and now it is 50ghc at the market today. It has dropped by 50%.

“Today there is an abundance of foods on the market. The price of everything is going down,” he said.

Dr. Bryan Acheampong who further bemoaned the country’s high food inflation was optimistic that the Planting for Food Phase II will deal with the challenge.

“I find the items that we produce in Ghana at 70 [percent inflation] quite high. But it is not because of the farm gate. Maize has been stable at the farm gate for the past 2,3 years. Tomatoes have been stable at the farm gate.

It is something that we have to deal with and that is what PFJ 2.0 is tailored to deal with. To ensure that the distribution gap from the farm gate to the market shrinks.”

“When we talk about low prices I am not interested in it if it is going to be a disincentive to the farmer. The farmers are happy with the prices they are selling and I am happy. And under PFJ I want to find a mechanism to guarantee those farm gate prices. But I just want to ensure that the distribution margin is reduced,” he added.

“I am hoping that when we look at inflation a year from today. It will be in single digits”, Dr. Bryan Acheampong concluded.

August 2023 inflationary data from the Ghana Statistical Service reveals that although year-on-year tomatoes have seen an increase of about 70%, prices of tomatoes between July 2023 and August 2023 fell by 8.2%.