Ghana is haemorrhaging GH¢5.7 billion every year from a broken tomato sector, and now the human cost of that failure is being counted in lives lost on treacherous cross-border supply routes, the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana (CAG) has warned, as it launched a sweeping five-year rescue plan for the industry.
The Chamber disclosed that Ghana spends between GH¢650 million and GH¢760 million annually importing fresh tomatoes and tomato paste, making the country the world’s second-largest importer of tomato paste after Germany. The losses, equivalent to 1.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), are compounded by post-harvest spoilage that destroys between 30 and 45 percent of locally grown tomatoes each year due to inadequate cold storage, amounting to a further GH¢175 million to GH¢250 million in wasted produce.
The Chamber described the situation as a national emergency. Anthony Morrison, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, said the country is sacrificing not just money but lives. “We are not just losing foreign exchange; we are losing an entire generation’s employment opportunities. The recent security incident in Burkina Faso is a wake-up call. We cannot continue to sacrifice Ghanaian lives and livelihoods for tomatoes we can grow better and cheaper at home,” he said.
A trader added her voice to the crisis, saying: “We risk our lives because there are not enough quality tomatoes produced in Ghana. This strategy will finally make it possible to trade safely within Ghana’s borders while creating prosperity for all of us.”
The Chamber’s National Tomato Production Strategy for 2026 to 2030 targets a dramatic reduction in tomato paste imports from more than 100 million dollars annually to just 20 million dollars by 2030, while increasing the use of locally grown tomatoes by processors from 7 percent to 85 percent. The plan calls for the construction of 50 cold storage facilities with a combined capacity of 150,000 metric tonnes, and projects annual economic gains of more than GH¢5 billion by 2030 through combined import savings, increased tax revenues, and wages recirculated within the domestic economy.
Implementation steps include presenting the strategy to the President and Cabinet for approval, establishing a national steering committee, opening a youth registration portal, and beginning construction of the first ten cold storage facilities in the second quarter of 2026, alongside emergency financial support for families affected by recent cross-border trading incidents.
The GH¢3.2 billion strategy aims to create approximately 200,000 jobs for young Ghanaians across farming, processing, cold-chain management, logistics, and agribusiness entrepreneurship, while establishing a GH¢200 million Youth Agri-Entrepreneurship Fund to support youth-led tomato businesses.
Beyond import bills and spoilage, the CAG calculates that GH¢4.5 billion in potential wages currently flows to foreign processors and farmers rather than to Ghanaian workers, compounding the sector’s drag on the broader economy.
