The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, has announced that the government has allocated resources to the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) to develop and invest in an improved tomato variety aimed at boosting local production.
The sector Minister announced this while responding to a statement on the floor of Parliament.
According to the Minister, the new tomato variety is expected to yield over 20 tonnes per hectare, a step toward addressing Ghana’s estimated 300,000-tonne deficit needed to attain self-sufficiency in tomato production.
“We have decided, and this morning we held a meeting of WACCI of Legon and some of the research institutions, and they have given us the assurance that they can give us a variety that can give us more than 20 tonnes per-hectare.
“We have made some resources available to ensure that we develop that variety to bring a lasting solution to the problem,” he stated.
The Minister added that government’s strategy to reduce the estimated 30 percent post-harvest losses will play a critical role in addressing the country’s tomato production challenges.
“If we are able to eliminate post-harvest losses alone, we are adding unto our production 153,000 tonnes of tomato. That reduces the gap from 300,000 to 140,000.
“On assumption of office, we decided to launch a programme called Vegetable Development Project popularly known as “yeredua.” This was launched in July last year. The project is anchored on three pillars; seed, irrigation and marketing,” he said.
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