Professor Ransford Gyampo, CEO, Ghana Shippers’ Authority has pointed out that Ghana has not taken agriculture seriously.
He says the time has come for Ghana to develop urgent intervention in the agriculture sector.
“I don’t think we have taken Agriculture serious as a people. Let us now sit down as a people and develop interventions that will encourage young people to go into farming,” he said on the Key Points on Tv3 Saturday March 21.
Also speaking on the same show, legal practitioner Kofi Bentil, said that there is no reason why Ghanaian farmers can’t produce tomatoes in Ghana.
He charged the government to enact policies to support the farmers.
“There is no reason why we can’t produce tomatoes in Ghana, I believe it is doable,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, March 21.
He added, “Why should we overly depend on Burkina Faso for tomatoes when we have a whole Ministry of Agriculture. We need proper policies and serious people to develop a plan for growing our own tomatoes.”
For her part, an aide to former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Akosua Manu, urged the Mahama administration to continue on the path of the Planting to for Food and Jobs as well as One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative by the previous Akufo-Addo administration.
He said that this will also absorb the country from the effect of the ban on export of tomatoes by Burkina Faso.
“There is an opportunity for employment if the government continues on the path of 1D1F,” she said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, March 21.
She further said that the ban on tomatoes by Burkina Faso poses a national security threat.
She points out that Ghana has not gotten to the point where it can boast of being self-sufficient when it comes to tomatoes.
“Tomatoes are needed for food preparation, hence if the country lacks them, it poses a national security crisis,” she added.
“It’s a national security risk. We have a situation where we have not gotten to level of self-sufficiency when it comes to tomatoes,” she said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, March 21.
For his part, Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu said that Ghana has no excuse to fail in its agriculture.
He says that if Burkina Faso, which has dry land, is able to produce more to even consider banning export, then Ghana, with its arable land, has no reason to be importing tomatoes.
We have no excuse,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, March 21.
“This should cause Ghana to step up agribusiness; we can’t continue to be fed by Burkina Faso, a dry land,” he added.
“We also have to look at processing and value addition. Look at the land, we have a lot of arable land here, we have no excuse, people in the desert are doing serious farming,” he added.
The Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry has announced plans to engage authorities in Burkina Faso over the country’s decision to suspend the export of fresh tomatoes, a move expected to impact tomato supply on the Ghanaian market.
This follows Burkina Faso’s directive suspending the export of fresh tomatoes, which took effect on March 16, 2026.
In a statement issued on Friday, March 20, the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry said the engagement with the Burkina Faso counter parts will seek to address concerns surrounding the ban and chart a mutually beneficial way forward for both countries.
The government reiterated its commitment to working with stakeholders to boost local tomato production under the “Feed Ghana” and “Feed the Industry” programmes, aimed at increasing output to meet demand on the domestic market.
The Ministry also appealed to tomato traders to remain calm as discussions progress, expressing optimism that an amicable resolution will be reached to restore normal trade flows between the two countries.
Read also: Burkina Faso bans fresh tomato exports
