Farmer suicides over tomato glut

Two tomato farmers in the Upper East region of Ghana are said to have committed suicide after failing to sell their produce, reportedly because of an over-supply of the crop on the market. Mr. Abuga Pele, Member of Parliament for Chiana-Paga constituency in the region has called on government to step in to avoid more loss of life.

He said the crisis was because the Pwalugu Tomato Factory which had encouraged farmers to produce massively for its canning operations had then been unable to take all the tomato grown. It had assured farmers it would buy all their produce, which encouraged farmers to dramatically increase their cultivation of tomato.

The MP said many farmers took loans and others sold properties to go into tomato farming only to be told that the factory, "would not buy because it was not ready. It has problem of electricity and a myriad of unanticipated problems." He said, following this, there were some riots by the youth and farmers were confused and demoralised.

Mr Ernest Debrah, Minister of Food and Agriculture, said it was important to find out if the refusal of the factory to purchase the tomatoes had to do with quality or pricing.