Ghana has recently introduced five novel tomato varieties, marking a historic milestone, according to Esther Agyekum, the deputy director of agriculture and vegetable lead for the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative.
These varieties were developed in collaboration with the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement and the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
The primary objective of this initiative is to assist Ghana in reaching a long-term goal of achieving 108% sufficiency in tomato production. Currently, the country experiences a mere 27% sufficiency, leading to the necessity of importing tomatoes from Burkina Faso.
Trade data from the Ghana Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association (Ghana Vegetables) reveals a substantial increase in annual tomato imports from Burkina Faso, soaring from an estimated US$99.5 million in 2018 to a staggering US$400 million. The introduction of these new tomato varieties, combined with other governmental interventions, is anticipated to pave the way for Ghana to attain self-sufficiency in tomato production.
“I must also point out that in the medium to long term the government is working with our universities and research institutions specifically West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement and Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research to develop and introduce improved varieties to farmers.
“At the moment it is refreshing to note that five of these tomato varieties have been released locally and this is the first time in the history of Ghana that we have produced our own locally bred seeds,” she said.
“So, two of them, the two from CSIR Crop Research are open-pollinated varieties (OPVS), then three of the varieties from WACI are the hybrids and the yields are very interesting,” Agyekum said.
Source; Asaaseradio