President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to rehabilitate the Pwalugu tomato factory in the Upper East Region as part of the government's efforts to expand tomato production and agro-processing in the country.

He said the factory would serve as the centre for processing tomatoes produced under a planned expansion of tomato cultivation in the region.

Speaking during a citizens' engagement in Navrongo on Friday, August 14, President Mahama said the government's proposed investment under the New Economy programme would place agriculture and agro-processing at the centre of its development plans.

“The New Economy is selecting seven sectors of the Ghanaian economy. And every year we're going to, for the next four years, we're going to invest $2.5 billion in those seven pillars,” he said.

“But the biggest is agriculture and agro-processing. And that's where the Upper East comes in. Agriculture and agro-processing are going to take 50% of that $10 billion investment. So $5 billion is going to go into agriculture and agro-processing.”

President Mahama said the Upper East Region would receive a share of the planned $5 billion investment, which would include the expansion of irrigation infrastructure to enable farmers to produce throughout the year.

“And I can assure you the Upper East region is going to get its fair share of that $5 billion. So that will cover creating more irrigation facilities so that our young people, even in the rainy season or the dry season, would have the opportunity to be able to produce,” he said.

He said the government had already begun work towards revitalising tomato production in the region through the tomato revitalisation project.

“The minister told you that Upper East can produce all the vegetables and everything that we eat in this country. And we're not even waiting for that program to start. We've started. We have the tomato revitalisation project that is taking place here,” President Mahama said.

According to him, about 2,500 acres of land could be brought under tomato cultivation, with the Pwalugu tomato factory serving as the main processing facility.

“We can bring in 2,500 acres of land under tomato production. And the Pwalugu tomato factory is going to be the epicenter of it. We're going to rehabilitate the Pwalugu tomato factory so that we can process the tomatoes that Upper East is producing to feed the rest of the country,” he said.

President Mahama also announced plans to complete the Tamne irrigation dam to support dry-season farming in four districts in the Bawku area.

He said the project would particularly support onion production, given the area's comparative advantage in the crop.

“And so we'll finish the Tamni irrigation dam so that the four districts in the Bawku area can also go into their dry season production. Especially onion production. Because we know that the Bawku area has a comparative advantage when it comes to onion production,” he said.

The President said increasing local onion production would help reduce Ghana's reliance on imports from Niger.

“We want to cut down the amount of onions we import from Niger. And if we put enough land under irrigation, we should be able to import, substitute, and produce our own onions. And so government is going to support that,” he added.