Ghana Launches Tomato Self-Sufficiency Initiative, First Phase to Cover Over 10,000 Acres

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 15, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Ghana and FarmMate Ltd launched the Ghana Tomato Self-Sufficiency Initiative (GHATSI) in Anloga, Volta Region. The first phase of the project will cover more than 10,000 acres of land in the 2026/2027 production cycle, involving 12 regions, 40 administrative districts, and over 100 communities, with a first-stage tomato supply target of approximately 100,000 tons.

The project is being advanced through a public-private partnership and contract farming model, and plans to connect tomato cultivation bases with irrigation, agricultural inputs, financing, insurance, centralized procurement, and processing systems. Participating farmers will receive agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, as well as technical services and crop insurance support, with the related production inputs settled after the centralized procurement of agricultural products.

According to the project plan, GHATSI will focus on increasing tomato production capacity during the dry season and non-rainy season, and will be supported by the construction of collection and distribution, pre-processing, packaging, and processing facilities to reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen the linkage between the cultivation end and the industrial processing end. Previous related plans proposed the deployment of tomato processing facilities to expand local tomato deep-processing capacity.

Information released by Ghana's food and agriculture authorities shows that the country has long experienced a seasonal tomato supply gap and still needs to import large quantities of fresh tomatoes and tomato products every year. After the full implementation of GHATSI, the national annual tomato production target will be raised to approximately 400,000 tons, reducing import dependence by expanding local cultivation and processing capacity.