In Ghana’s farming zones, it’s not the rains that fail, it’s the roads. Across the country, thousands of farmers are preparing for another peak harvest season. Tomatoes, cassava, maize, and plantain are maturing on time and in abundance.
But even as crops ripen, the logistics to move them remain broken. For many farmers, the bigger problem isn’t growing enough, it’s getting produce to market before it rots.
“Tomatoes will rot on the farms not because they weren’t grown well, but because we can’t move them,” says Dr. Frank Ackah, Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast’s Department of Crop Science. His warning underscores a chronic bottleneck in Ghana’s agricultural economy, the collapse of rural infrastructure and the lack of a modern, fair marketing system.
Feeder roads that connect farming communities to towns and regional markets are in disrepair. In many food-producing belts, especially during the rainy season, trucks simply refuse to make the trip. Where they do, the cost of transport eats into the farmer’s already thin margins.
Cold storage vans? Scarce and expensive. Coordinated transport services? Non-existent for most rural farmers. What Ghana reaps in plenty, it fails to move in time.
Even when food does reach urban centers, the problems continue. Many producers are forced to deal with middlemen under exploitative conditions. Farmers who travelled hundreds of kilometers with bags of onions or crates of tomatoes often find themselves powerless in pricing negotiations. Desperate to offload perishable stock, they accept whatever price is offered. The result: post-harvest losses, not just in food, but in farmer dignity, income, and motivation.
Dr. Ackah believes the solution lies not only in infrastructure upgrades but in market reform. He advocates for a national tomato market or auction-style system where pricing is transparent, and producers can meet bulk buyers directly.
“If farmers knew they had a reliable place to take their tomatoes, where buyers were waiting and prices were posted, it would change the entire value chain,” he argues. It would also reduce the stranglehold of exploitative intermediaries who dominate Ghana’s informal agricultural trade.
What Ghana needs, he insists, is not a miracle, but coordination. Rural roads that are passable. Cold-chain logistics that don’t require a millionaire’s budget.
