Ghana has launched a tomato production programme targeting about 100,000 tonnes in its first 2026/2027 production cycle, using financed farm inputs, crop insurance and contracted buyers to try to reduce the country’s seasonal dependence on imports.
The Ghana Tomato Self-Sufficiency Initiative is being implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture with FarmMate Limited. Its first phase is planned across more than 10,000 acres, with a longer-term target of about 400,000 tonnes of tomato production a year.
The programme is aimed at two problems that occur at different points in Ghana’s tomato market. Ministry figures cited by the Ghana News Agency put annual demand at about 805,000 tonnes and domestic production at about 510,000 tonnes. About 153,000 tonnes of that local production is estimated to be lost after harvest.
The shortage is most acute during the December-to-July off-season, when imported fresh tomatoes and tomato products fill part of the gap. The ministry says Ghana spends more than US$400 million a year importing fresh tomatoes and paste.
Farmers will repay financing after harvest
Participating farmers are expected to receive a production package estimated at GH¢20,000 per acre. It covers inputs, land preparation, soil testing, technical assistance and other production requirements.
The programme also includes multi-peril crop insurance. Agriculture Minister Eric Opoku said the stated insurance value is GH¢50,000 per acre when an insured event destroys a participating farm.
Rather than requiring farmers to repay the production financing before they sell their crop, the programme links repayment to a structured off-take arrangement. Contracted buyers purchase the tomatoes after harvest and repayment is settled from the proceeds.
That structure is also intended to give farmers a known market and reduce losses when production is high. FarmMate founder and chief executive Sena Amevor told GNA a processing facility at the company’s Legon Enclave was expected to begin operating in September, with an initial processing capacity of between 1.5 and five tonnes an hour.
The 100,000-tonne first-phase target would still sit well below the roughly 295,000-tonne difference between the ministry’s reported annual demand and production figures. The programme’s larger 400,000-tonne target is a production goal, not a measured increase in output yet.