The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has officially launched the first phase of a major initiative aimed at boosting tomato production in Ghana and reducing the country’s dependence on imported tomatoes.
The initiative, being implemented in partnership with Farmmate Ghana Limited, seeks to promote sustainable local production while improving the livelihoods of farmers and strengthening Ghana’s agricultural value chain.
The project is expected to focus on three key areas: import substitution, economic empowerment and value addition.
Under the import substitution component, the initiative seeks to increase domestic tomato production and reduce reliance on imports, with the broader objective of lowering the national tomato importation bill.
The economic empowerment component is expected to support local farmers by improving their livelihoods while creating employment opportunities across the agricultural value chain.
The initiative will also promote value addition through investment in tomato processing capacity, allowing producers to move beyond raw agricultural output and increase the market value of locally produced tomatoes.
Phase I of the initiative, covering the 2026–2027 farming season, has an initial production target of 100,000 tonnes of tomatoes across 10,000 hectares.
The project has a longer-term target of producing 400,000 tonnes annually and beyond across various districts in Ghana.
The initiative forms part of efforts to transform Ghana’s agricultural sector by strengthening domestic production, supporting farmers and developing processing capacity to create a more sustainable tomato value chain.
