FSRP, Farmmate partnership to yield 240 tonnes of tomato

By Wisdom JONNY-NUEKPE

Incoming harvests from a tomato production collaboration between the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) and FarmMate Ltd in the Upper East Region are meeting targeted yields of 240 tonnes in the first round.

The partnership forms part of interventions by FSRP – under the Food and Agriculture Ministry, to address the yearly nationwide incidence of tomato shortages and fluctuating prices, especially during the dry season.

The Project Officer in-charge of tomato, FSRP, Dr Gabriel Owusu, said the project’s obejective is to bridge the country’s tomato production gap, which is ever increasing.

According to him, Ghana’s tomato demands is in excess of 800,000 metric tonnes but local production currently hover around 300,000 metric tonnes.

This, Dr Owusu explained, needs critical support from all stakeholders – which the FSRP has taken keen interest.

An official from FarmMate, Kwame Asante said, FarmMate is excited to be associated with the partnership as the project falls within the company’s key responsibilities.

“We are glad to be partners in this initiative, providing inputs and helping to advance a smart farming innovation particularly in tomato production.

The Bawku West District Director of MoFA, Diana Akumanue, lauded the initiative as a timely intervention to mitigate rising tomato imports and to deepen production.

The scheme is being carried out through financial support from the government of Norway and coordinated by the World Bank to revamp the Ghanaian tomato industry for year-round availability of the produce by way of dry season production.

From the farms, the tomatoes are conveyed mostly to the Greater Accra Region, to major markets and premium markets including departmental shops and shopping arcades.

The  collaboration is geared at leveraging productive private sector linkages with farmers to optimise the production and facilitate timely off-take and marketing of tomatoes for the fresh and value addition (tomato puree) markets.

The project covers 200 acres of tomato cultivation across the country, 110 acres  of which are in the Upper East Regions with about 100 farmers in the Zebila (in the Bawku West District), Pwalugu (in the Talensi District) and Tono Irrigation Scheme and Navrongo (in the Kasena Nankana District).

The other locations are: Ningo-Prampram, Okere, Kwahu East, Akumadan Irrigation Scheme and Asunafo South districts.

Beyond the collaborations with FarmMate, the FSRP Tomato Support Programme is being carried out in 20 Districts in six (6) regions. It involves 1,500 farmers, of which 40 percent are women. So far, the intervention has resulted in yields of approximately 10Tons per hectare and at the end of the 2025  dry season. Yields are expected to reach 15 Tons per hectare. FSRP targets the production of 6000 Metric tonnes of tomatoes by the end of the intervention.

The West Africa Food System Resilience Project (FSRP) is a Government of Ghana project, funded by The World Bank, coordinated by the Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS] and implemented in 8 countries (Sierra Leone, Senegal, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Mali).  In Ghana, FSRP is being implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).

The project development objective is to increase West Africa’s preparedness against food insecurity and improve the resilience of food systems in Ghana.

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