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Farmers Demand 30% stake in
Northern Star Tomato Factory
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, March 26, Ghanadot - Farmers in the Northern, Upper East
and Upper West Regions have vehemently appealed to the
government as a matter of urgency to offload 30% shares of the
Northern Star Tomato Factory to them.
This, the farmers believe
would ensure the smooth and effective running of the company as
well as solving the perennial tomato glut in the three regions
of the north.
Presenting a petition on trade issues that affect Ghanaian
farmers and fishermen to the Minister of Trade and Industry (MOTI),
the President of the National Farmers and Fishermen Award
Winners Association of Ghana (NFFAWAG), Mr. Philip Abayori,
questioned ‘Why it has become difficult for MOTI to implement
the policy for which reason the factory was set up by involving
the farmers, but rather chose to leave the factory unproductive,
to the detriment of the tomato farmers, making government
efforts worthless.’
Why do we have to import 7,000 metric tones of tomatoes monthly
into Ghana when our farmers have the capacity to produce, he
asked.
“We also want to solicit
government’s intervention to make it possible so that the
farmers and fishers can access credits and grants through the
Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) for exportation
and also set up small and medium scale agro industries to
process their produce to add value to it”, Mr. Abayori appealed.
The farmers urged the government to consider setting up new
rules for imports and exports of agricultural products, taking
into consideration the survival of the local producers.
To this end, the farmers were of
the view that MOTI should have a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
with the Ghanaian farmers and fishermen with special programmes
to support them to produce the exact quantities of agricultural
raw materials that would feed our local industries and also to
reduce imports of those products that the country has
competitive and comparative advantage to grow.
All these would go a long way to stabilize the Ghanaian economy
and generate employment for the teeming youth, hence alleviating
poverty among Ghanaians.
Mr. Abayori, also called on the Ministry to use its good offices
to establish temporal storage facilities across the country so
that the farmers can store their produces.
Another major issue of concern to the farmers is the excessive
importation of some agricultural produce into the country such
as rice, vegetable oil, maize and soya beans. This situation is
gradually squeezing Ghanaian farmers out of business and the
farmers cannot compete fairly with the cheap imported products.
Additionally, these foreign countries are facilitating their
produces by giving subsidies, grants and other incentives to
their farmers, while the Ghanaian farmers are not being
supported adequately to enable them trade fairly. This
unfortunate situation is crippling our farmers, though we have
the capacity and the fertile land to grow crops.
The farmers were quick to add that they lack adequate
warehousing, financial and grading facilities to store and keep
their produce in their natural state.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms. Hannah Tetteh assured
the farmers that the government was ready to give them 30%
shares of the Northern Star Factory if only they can pay the
amount promptly so as to make the company more vibrant.
She disclosed that her Ministry had instructed the Custom,
Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) to ensure that food
products, especially tomatoes imported from Burkina Faso meet
the safety standards of Ghana.
Ms Tetteh stressed that all the Presidential Special Initiatives
(PSIs) implemented by the previous government were to be
reviewed to make them sustainable.
Ghanadot |
