Dormabin, a quiet farming town in the Krachi East Municipal District, has become the center of growing concern among yam farmers as prices for the staple crop continue to fall while production costs spiral upward.
For eight years, the Dormabin Yam Market has served as a key trading hub for communities across the Oti Region. But this year, farmers say business has been their toughest yet.
Mr. Joseph Babayi, the market’s secretary, explained that yam prices have dropped sharply, in some cases by more than half, while the cost of inputs such as pesticides, fertilizer, and labor has continued to rise. Farmers, he said, are struggling to cover basic expenses.
“We have reduced the price of yam by over 50%, but still the market is slow,” Babayi said.
A heap of yams that previously sold for around GH₵2,000 now fetches barely GH₵1,200. Because yam is highly perishable, most farmers are forced to sell quickly at low prices or risk losing their produce altogether. Poor road networks further delay transport to bigger markets, compounding their losses.
Many producers in Dormabin rely entirely on manual labor, with limited access to modern equipment. Some even hire workers from neighboring Togo when local hands are not available, a practice that adds to production costs. Babayi noted that mechanization could ease the pressure on farmers who currently depend on costly labor.
“If we can get machinery to help, even simple equipment like small tillers, it will save us time and energy,” he said.
Babayi appealed to the government to subsidize farm inputs, especially fertilizers and agrochemicals, to sustain production and protect livelihoods in rural communities.
“If chemicals and inputs are subsidized, we can at least manage to produce and recover our investment,” he said.
He added that building sheds and small storage facilities at the market would help farmers preserve their yams longer and sell them when prices improve.
For now, Dormabin’s yam farmers continue to work the land, hoping for interventions that will keep their market, and their livelihoods alive.
