The Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana (CAG) recently commissioned a survey that shows the nation imports an astounding GH¢760 million worth of tomatoes annually.
The Chamber claims that more than 75,000 metric tonnes of fresh tomato fruit and more than 75,000 metric tonnes of tomato paste brands are imported directly each year.
In 2022, Ghana imported GH¢400 million worth of tomatoes from adjacent Burkina Faso, according to the Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association of Ghana.
But according to CAG, the current cost implications in the tomato trade value chain are far greater and could amount to almost GH¢5.7 billion when direct import prices, tax revenue losses, post-harvest losses, wage losses, and importers’ security expenditures are taken into account.
GH¢220 million is wasted annually owing to uncollected income taxes, VAT, and corporation tax from around 250,000 potential employment that do not exist because of import dependence, according to the Chamber, since the country is the second-largest importer of tomato paste in the world after Germany, according to data from CAG.
Due to a lack of cold storage, the Chamber projected that GH¢250 million worth of domestically grown tomatoes, or about 45% of domestic production, decay every year.
Around GH¢4.5 billion in salaries that 250,000 Ghanaians could receive if the industry were fully established are lost annually due to joblessness, according to CAG, while foreign farmers and processors profit instead.
Anthony Morrison, CEO of CAG, stated that “These numbers are devastating, We’re not just losing foreign exchange; we’re losing an entire generation’s employment opportunities”.
Ghana cannot keep sacrificing lives and livelihoods for tomatoes that can be grown more cheaply and effectively at home, according to CAG, which called the recent security incident in Burkina Faso a wake-up call.
The Chamber underlined that just 7% of processed tomatoes are now made locally; the remainder are repackaged imports of bulk paste.
“We have the technology and market demand, but not the consistent local supply. The CAG has a strategy: focus on production, quality and cold chain which will finally enable local processing of Ghanaian tomatoes, creating thousands of factory jobs.”
CAG states that although this plan will cost GH¢3.2 billion over five years, it will yield returns that are far greater than the initial expenditure, with total economic gains surpassing GH¢5 billion by 2030.
Source: newsthemegh.com