We can grow tomatoes, onion in the dry season like Burkina – Dumelo explains

Several trucks spotted on Ghana-Burkina highway

Ghana can grow enough tomatoes and onions, John Dumelo

Government needs to support farmers, Dumelo

Agribusiness entrepreneur, John Dumelo, has proposed some ways government can adopt to assist local farmers to grow tomatoes and onions on a large scale.

This, he believes will prevent farmers and the country from travelling to Burkina Faso to purchase these foods items.

In a post shared on Instagram, John Dumelo bemoaned the culture where Ghana depends on other neighbouring countries in terms of food supply.

He pointed out that assistance from government will help towards the growing and harvesting of tomatoes and onion in large quantities especially in the Upper East and Upper West regions.

“I took this video on the Bolgatanga- Navrongo highway. Every year, from December to about May, thousands of trucks move to Burkina Faso to buy tomatoes/onions for the Ghanaian market. Same tomatoes/onions that can be cultivated in large quantities in Ghana especially the Upper East and Upper West regions. The Burkina folks use irrigation during the dry season to grow tons of Tomatoes to feed the subregion. Why can’t we (Ghana) do same?” he quizzed.

He furthered that farmers can produce between 15 to 20 tons per hectare of tomatoes and onions through funding and the use of irrigation systems.

“We have the Tono dam in the Kassena Nankana district, we have the Nasia river, the White Volta etc all spread across the Northern parts of Ghana. We can use these water bodies to initiated massive irrigation systems to grow tomatoes esp the Pectomech variety, onions, etc to feed ourselves and also export. We should be targeting about 15-20 tons per hectare output from the farms. With these projections, the trucks will eventually stop crossing the border and now buy from our farmers. The money must stay home. It’s time to get things done!” Dumelo wrote in a post.

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