Gov’t targets tomato, onion & pepper imports with new ‘Eurybia’ Project

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture aims to reduce Ghana's reliance on vegetable imports. They are launching the Feed Ghana programme to address this issue.

In an interview with Citi FM, a ministry spokesperson shared concerning statistics about vegetable imports. Ghana spends GH₵4 billion annually on tomatoes imported from Burkina Faso.

He questioned why Ghana cannot produce its own tomatoes, given its fertile soil. The spokesperson emphasized that dependency on imports does not make sense.

Tomatoes are not the only concern. The ministry also mentioned other vegetables that are heavily imported. Ghana spends around GH₵240 million yearly on onions from Niger and nearly GH₵3 billion on pepper imports.

To combat this issue, the government is introducing the Eurybia Project. This initiative will focus on increasing local production of tomatoes, onions, and peppers.

According to the ministry, a technical team is already working on this project. They have created a policy document and invited AGRA for support. AGRA stands for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and will help finalize the implementation plan.