The Ghana Tomato Traders and Transporters Association is entreating its members to source their products from local tomato farms.

The Association wants to discourage the importation of tomatoes from Burkina Faso to provide a ready market for Ghanaian farmers.

As Christmas draws near, tomato farmers in the Bono and Ashanti Regions have expressed fear over lack of ready market.

This follows reports of some tomato traders planning to import produce from Burkina Faso.

“I went for a loan to farm these large acres of tomatoes. Right now, it is ready to be harvested. We need buyers. Information reaching us indicates that the traders are trooping to Ouagadugu in Burkina Faso to import tomatoes,” he said.

Another quizzed “We are plead with the Agric Minister to close our land borders. What do we do with these million ripe and harvested tomatoes?”

Some local farmers are already experiencing post-harvest losses. Eric Osei Tuffuor is Chairman of the Ghana Tomato Traders and Transporters.

” There is the need to think about our local farmers by purchasing their produce. After we have exhausted our local tomatoes, we then proceed to Burkina Faso. I will advise tomato traders and transporters to visit the Ashanti and Bono farm gates to mop up our local tomatoes,” he advised.

Tomato farming in Ghana is a lucrative business. However, poor farming practices have affected output.

To beat competition for produce from Burkina Faso, farmers have been advised to adopt smart choices and approach in farming.

This will help whip up the interest of consumers in purchasing locally produced tomatoes.

“The quality and packaging of tomatoes from Burkina is more attractive than our locally produced ones. I entreat our farmers to do the same. It will stop our traders from purchasing from Burkina Faso," he said.

Proper farming practices may be the strategy that will boost the tomato production in Ghana and see farmers making money from these ventures once again.