Traders lament influx of imported tomatoes on Ghanaian markets

Tomato traders at the Agbogbloshie market in the Greater Accra region are lamenting the influx of imported tomatoes mainly from Morocco, on the local markets.

According to the traders, this development is negatively affecting their businesses since the imported items are gradually taking over the domestic market.

The traders speaking to the Onua TV news team during a visit to the Agbogbloshie market on Monday, August 2 complained about the dwindling of their livelihood and requested the government to tackle the hike in prices of the local tomatoes.

They are also demanding that government places an embargo on the importation of tomatoes and other food items into the country and help intensify the campaign of consuming local foods.

A box of local tomatoes that used to sell at 200 cedis now sells within the range of 350 to 600 cedis depending on its size and quality.

They have indicated that the surge in the price of the local tomatoes has discouraged consumers to purchase the local tomatoes as they prefer the large size and moderate price of the imported ones.

Meanwhile, the traders have indicated that they are compelled to import the tomatoes from the neighboring countries due to its scarcity in the country.

The traders have attributed the shortage of tomatoes and other local foodstuffs to pest infestation and inadequate rainfall as well as bad farm practices adopted by Ghanaian farmers.

They have thus called on the government to support farmers to cultivate in large quantities to help avoid food insecurity in the country. Read Full Story