Ghana’s heavy dependence on imported tomatoes and ginger continues to widen its food import bill, with annual tomato imports alone exceeding US$230 million and domestic ginger production collapsing by more than 90 per cent, researchers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have said.
The researchers attributed the situation to weaknesses in seed systems, inadequate irrigation, declining soil fertility, pests and diseases, poor agronomic practices and inadequate investment in horticultural research.
They called for a research-led recovery strategy to strengthen domestic production, improve yields and reduce Ghana’s dependence on imported horticultural products.
The researchers made the call during the second session of the 2026 Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) Visibility Webinar Series, held virtually on the theme: “CSIR’s Interventions on Tomato and Ginger.”
Dr Michael Kwabena Osei, Principal Research Scientist and Vegetable Breeder at the CSIR Crop Research Institute (CSIR-CRI), said national demand for fresh and processed tomatoes had exceeded 1.4 million metric tonnes annually, while local production met only about 15 to 18 percent of that requirement.
He said Ghana produced between 120,000 and 180,000 metric tonnes of tomatoes annually from an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 hectares, leaving a supply deficit of about 1.1 million metric tonnes.
Fresh tomato imports, mainly from Burkina Faso, were estimated at between 100,000 and 120,000 metric tonnes annually and cost about US$18 million, while processed tomato imports, largely from China and Europe, represented the equivalent of 400,000 to 450,000 metric tonnes of raw tomatoes and cost about US$150 million.
Dr Osei said combined tomato imports exceeded US$230 million annually but still met only about 40 percent of the country’s supply shortfall.
More than 60 percent of fresh tomato imports, he said, entered the country between November and April, when domestic production declined sharply during the dry season.
Despite Ghana having more than 400,000 hectares of arable land suitable for tomato cultivation, average yields remained between seven and 10 tonnes per hectare, compared with potential yields of between 20 and 80 tonnes under improved varieties and appropriate agronomic management.
Dr Osei said the challenge was therefore not land availability but technology, including access to quality seed, plant protection, irrigation, healthy soils and improved agronomic practices.
“A country that imports its seed will always import its food,” he said.
He noted that about 89 percent of tomato farmers were small-scale growers cultivating between five and 20 acres, with many relying on seed extracted from ripe fruits or recycled hybrid seed, which lost vigour and productivity over time.
More than 85 percent of tomato seed planted in Ghana, he said, was imported commercial hybrid seed, making the development of a stronger domestic seed system critical to reducing import dependence.
Dr Osei also identified inadequate irrigation as a major constraint, noting that only about 9,000 hectares of the 15,000 hectares covered by 22 public irrigation schemes were currently being utilised.
He said expanding public irrigation schemes and providing affordable dry-season water were essential to reducing imports, particularly as high temperatures above 32 degrees Celsius could affect tomato production.
Other constraints included weak extension services, acidic soils, bacterial wilt, nematodes, low organic matter and challenges facing the tomato processing industry.
Dr Osei said the state-owned Pwalugu Tomato Factory, established in 1961 with a processing capacity of 500 tonnes per day, had remained non-functional for years, while private processors depended largely on imported concentrate rather than locally produced tomatoes.
He said CSIR had released two open-pollinated tomato varieties, CRI-Kwabena Kwabena and CRI-Copia, with shelf lives of approximately 18 and 21 days, respectively, and maintained the largest tomato germplasm collection in Ghana.
The researchers proposed short-, medium- and long-term interventions, including rapid evaluation of existing varieties, production of certified seed, farmer training, installation of solar-powered boreholes, soil improvement, establishment of mechanisation hubs and the adoption of protected cultivation techniques.
Dr Osei further proposed the establishment of a Tomato Board by 2028 and a dedicated Horticultural Research Institute by 2030 to coordinate research, seed development, processing, financing and market integration.
He summarised the proposed recovery strategy as “policy to protect, research to solve, and market to make profit.”
On ginger, Dr Osei said national demand had increased from about 18,000 tonnes in 2020 to between 30,000 and 32,000 tonnes in 2025, but production suffered a major setback following a bacterial wilt outbreak in 2022.
The disease, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum and locally known as the “ginger killer,” reduced national production from about 102 tonnes to roughly 10 tonnes, leaving Ghana more than 99 per cent dependent on imported ginger.
He said Ghana now spent about US$500,000 annually importing ginger, mainly from China, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
The supply shortage had also pushed prices sharply upward, with the price of a sack of ginger rising from about GH¢250 in 2022 to GH¢4,000 in 2025 and about GH¢6,000 or more at the time of the webinar.
Dr Osei said the disease was soil-borne and could spread through infected planting materials, poor drainage, heavy rainfall, monocropping and contaminated farm tools.
Once a crop became infected, he said, the disease could not be effectively treated chemically, making prevention and resistant varieties critical.
He said CSIR’s ginger recovery strategy was based on four key interventions: developing resistant varieties, producing disease-free planting materials through tissue culture, strengthening disease surveillance and integrated pest management, and deploying improved technologies to farmers through extension networks.
Ms Matilda Frimpong, a ginger research scientist at CSIR-CRI, advised farmers to obtain certified rhizomes from certified companies or research institutions because the wilt pathogen was microscopic, soil-borne and could not be detected by sight.
She said breeding for disease resistance remained the most sustainable long-term control measure, alongside crop rotation and other appropriate cultural practices.
Dr Richard Yaw Agyare, Vegetable Breeder at the CSIR Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), said northern Ghana, particularly the Upper East Region, once played a leading role in national tomato production, but several irrigation sites were now producing little tomato.
He said national tomato output had stagnated at about 360,000 tonnes annually for nearly a decade, with average productivity of about 7.8 tonnes per hectare, compared with 94 tonnes in Morocco and 17 tonnes in Burkina Faso.
Dr Agyare attributed the decline in northern production to pests and diseases, declining soil fertility, weak agronomic practices, recycled hybrid seed, heat stress, poor market incentives and competition from imported tomatoes from Burkina Faso.
He said rising temperatures from February onwards shortened the dry-season production window, while the absence of rainy-season varieties suited to hot and humid conditions limited year-round production.
The CSIR-SARI, he said, was breeding tomato varieties for both rainfed and dry-season production, with promising lines undergoing validation and multi-location trials.
Dr Agyare said the introduction of climate-smart varieties could increase yields, improve fruit quality, raise farmer incomes, strengthen nutrition, support the revival of processing industries and reduce Ghana’s tomato import bill.
Rev. Dr Cephas Adjei Mensah, Director of Research, Statistics and Information Management at MEST, said the Government was encouraged by the CSIR’s interventions and would follow up on proposals for stronger institutional support.
He welcomed the proposal for a dedicated horticultural research institute, saying it could be developed into a centre of excellence serving Ghana, West Africa and the wider African continent.
The webinar was moderated by Prof. Maxwell D. Asante, Director of CSIR-CRI, and formed part of MEST’s visibility series aimed at showcasing research interventions supporting national development.
