Despite inadequate tomatoes in major markets in the cities pushing prices high, tomato farmers in Chinto, Yaayaso, Abodobi, and its surrounding villages in Fanteakwa South District in Eastern Region are grappling with high post-harvest losses due to extremely bad roads.
June and July are major harvesting months for the tomato farmers in Chinto, Yaayaso, Abodobi, and its surrounding villages. However, the road to the communities becomes unmotorable whenever it rains. Farmers had to hire tricycles to transport the harvested tomatoes to the Obuoho community, which is about 14 kilometres away, to meet buyers reluctant to come to the community.
The farmers are worried about the poor state of their roads and lack of electricity in the community, which are discouraging the youth from going into agriculture.
One farmer said: "Whenever it rains, no car comes here because the road is deplorable, so the tomatoes get rotten on the farms. When it happens like that, we have to hire a tricycle to transport the tomatoes to meet buyers in the next community, which is about 14km before they buy our tomatoes.”
Source: ghanaweb.com