Ghana losing Billions Through Tomato importation

Members of the Kumasi Tomato Importers Association have raised alarm over the huge amount of money being spent in the importation of tomatoes from Burkina Faso.

The importers are calling on government to as a matter of urgency, address the issue since the country is losing income to neighboring countries.

Leader of the association, Maame Afia Akoma bemoaned the enormous challenges and risks tomato importers face to be able to get this perishable vegetables into the country.

“We are appealing to Nana Addo to do something quickly because where we go to purchase the tomatoes is dangerous for us, we go as far as Burkina to buy the tomatoes, we go in at night and return in the night,” she explained.

She called on the government particularly, the president, Nana Addo to expedite action on the implementation of the “one village, one dam” project to have tomato farms established on a large scale to serve the needs of tomato sellers and save the country from losing revenue through tomato importation.

“We use bank loans to import the vegetable from Burkina, one person can go with GHc40,000 and sometimes GHc50,000, each car carries GHc100,000 worth of tomatoes, so if a hundred cars go to Burkina each day, just imagine the amount of money we are losing,” she revealed.

”If all this money remained in our country, it would reduce our burden and suffering, “she added.

They however appealed to president Akufo-Addo to act in their interest and expressed optimism that he will listen because the NPP is a listening government.

Source: otecfmghana.com/Kwaku Anane Jr.