Ghana could soon experience sharp increases in tomato paste prices following the disruption in fresh tomato supply from Burkina Faso, an agribusiness expert has warned.
Mr Senyo Kpelly, Chief Executive Officer of Tropical AgriFoods Ltd, a Tamale-based agro-processing company working with farmers to improve food security, said the country’s heavy reliance on imported fresh tomatoes had made the market extremely vulnerable to external shocks.
He explained that once fresh tomatoes become scarce in the markets, households and food vendors would naturally switch to tomato paste as an alternative, a development that could significantly increase demand and push prices upward.
“If fresh tomatoes are not available, consumers will immediately switch to tomato paste. Once demand increases, prices will also go up. That is what we should prepare for,” he said.
Mr Kpelly noted that Ghana depended heavily on tomatoes imported from Burkina Faso, particularly between January and March, which is the peak period for imported fresh tomatoes because local production largely depends on rainfall.
He said the situation could become more serious because the country was not prepared for the sudden disruption in supply, especially during the dry season when irrigation-based production remains limited.
The agribusiness expert explained that the shortage would not only affect households but also food vendors, restaurants and small food businesses that rely heavily on fresh tomatoes every day.
He added that the shift from fresh tomatoes to tomato paste could also increase demand for imported processed tomatoes, putting additional pressure on foreign exchange and worsening the country’s food import bill.
Mr Kpelly said while tomato paste could help reduce the impact of the shortage temporarily, it was not a long-term solution to the country’s growing dependence on imported vegetables.
He urged government to focus on long-term solutions such as dry-season farming, improved seed systems and better coordination among farmers to prevent similar shortages in the future.
