Ghana’s path to tomato self-sufficiency, long hampered by seasonal shortages and reliance on imports, could hinge on one solution: smart agriculture. That is the view of Dr. Felix Mawuli Kamassah, CEO of Maphlix Trust Ghana Limited, who says technology-driven, climate-adapted farming can transform the country’s tomato sector.
“This is a time for the country to have the right variety,” Dr. Kamassah said. “The variety that Burkina is growing, we grow them in Ghana, but just the temperature change. So, smart agriculture is very key.”
With Burkina Faso halting fresh tomato exports, Ghana has seen supply gaps widen and prices spike, exposing the structural weaknesses of the domestic sector. Annual consumption exceeds one million tonnes, yet local output covers only a fraction, forcing the country to rely heavily on imports.
Dr. Kamassah’s vision combines greenhouses, irrigation hubs, and careful selection of climate-adapted tomato varieties to allow year-round production. Regions such as Bawenya and Weja are already preparing nurseries and planting seedlings to expand output in the coming months.
But smart agriculture, he stresses, is more than technology, it requires strategy, coordination, and investment. “If the government is very serious, within one year we can close that gap,” he said, highlighting solutions already available but underutilized by fragmented efforts.
At his 200-acre farm in Dowenya, Dr. Kamassah has combined greenhouse and open-field cultivation to serve both as a production hub and a demonstration site for best practices. “We want the policymakers to visit the field and take informed decisions at the place. Then we can do meaningful production to solve the problem we are facing now,” he added.
By integrating modern farming techniques with coordinated government-private sector support, Dr. Kamassah believes Ghana can stabilize prices, reduce dependence on imports, and create a replicable model for other staple crops.
