Tomatoes sellers and the Ghana National Tomatoes and Transporters Association are complaining about the low patronage of locally grown tomatoes.
For some time now, Ghanaians have developed a taste for tomatoes grown in Burkina Faso leading to a drastic decrease in the demand for tomatoes grown in the country.
The change is as a result of the challenges facing the farmers as well as the farmers own marketing strategy.
In some of the tomato growing areas, it has been reported that there are no or few agricultural extension officers in those areas making it difficult for the farmers to know the right way to grow the plant.
Also, the traders indicated that, unlike the farmers in Ghana, the tomato farmers in Burkina Faso allow the traders to select the tomatoes they want. This enables the sellers to select the best for the market and also get a good price for the tomatoes.
Furthermore, it has been noticed that the locally grown tomatoes are watery as compared to the tomatoes from Burkina Faso. The farmers are calling on the government to intervene as the importation of tomatoes is affecting their business.
