Dakar - Tomato farmers and traders in the Upper East Region of Ghana have agreed to end a standoff that has seen violent clashes between the two sides. The bitter dispute saw farmers engaging in incidences of vandalism and preventing traders from importing the produce from neighbouring Burkina Faso, where they cited better quality and prices.
Under a deal brokered by Philip Abayori, president of a national farmers' organization, traders would halt tomato imports from Burkina Faso immediately and resume buying the produce from local farmers. Abayori said the farmers, who started harvesting their tomatoes in January, had expected to sell between 80,000 and 120,000 tonnes, but ended up with a lot of rotten produce when the traders declined to buy it in preference to the Burkinabé product. The frustrated farmers staged demonstrations and deflated the tyres of traders' trucks that were fully loaded with tomatoes.
The Tomato Traders Association of Ghana would from now on only import temporarily to cover their demand when the need arose, but with the consent of the farmers. "Tomato farmers and traders will negotiate for a fair and competitive price at which tomato will be sold and bought in the region," according to terms of the agreement.
It was agreed that tomato farmers would stop harassing traders with immediate effect. "The safety of the traders is guaranteed when they resume purchases and we therefore look forward to seeing fair pricing, good trade practices and fruitful business relations between the two organisations," said Abayori. The two sides also agreed to form a joint task force to monitor the tomato trade and enforce agreements reached.
According to the pact, farmers are to classify the quality of their tomatoes into grades one, two and three. The traders have pledged to move in immediately to quickly reduce the unsold tomato to the barest minimum and avoid losses.
A parliamentarian on February 28 called on government to step in and save tomato farmers in the Upper East Region who were faced with a tomato glut which he said had led to two farmers committing suicide. At that time it was said the glut was because a processing factory which had promised to buy all the farmers' production reneged on its promise to do so over technical problems at the plant. However, a government official had wondered out loud whether the problem was not one of the quality of the crop.
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