By Ernest Addo
The leadership of the Ghana National Tomato Traders and Transporters (GNTTTA) has explained to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) reasons for the steep rise in the price of tomato, saying it has a been occasioned by a new strategy on the part of jihadist militants ostensibly to bring the government of Burkina down on its knees by attacking food security pillars.
In a briefing received by the New Crusading GUIDE, the GNTTTA’s National Chairman Eric Osei Tuffuor, lamented that the increased attack on farmers, a section of whom have been trained and armed by government to protect their livelihoods, has been such that it is no longer sustainable and wise for farmers to stay at irrigation points and ply their trade at the risk of patent peril.
“It is a tricky situation that must attract the attention of both governments in living out their food security and trade as well as other regional integration agendas as a bilateral expedient in accelerating economic growth. This is not about competition; it is, in our opinion, about collaboration towards effective processing to create enough jobs. Sector Ministers must therefore come together to work out a security programme to support economic integration in attaining results that benefit ordinary citizens,” the National Chairman of the GNTTTA admonished.
Economic actors at bilateral level, he revealed, are over 20,000 aside of haulage, retail and indigenous catering in both countries, stressing that these are livelihoods that need protection because it is predominantly female.
He added that the poor security situation which has moved from bad to worse is now reaching heights where Burkinabe citizens are leaving their farm-gates, resident communities and country to join relatives in Ghana, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire.
“Interestingly, there are others as well perching with schooling kids in tight accommodations in these neighbouring countries, particularly Ghana,” he further disclosed.
Most of them have therefore abandoned their production activities at the peak of their calendar which extends to May ending.
New Crusading GUIDE sources within Burkina Faso’s business community in Ghana and Chamber of Commerce at Tema Harbour have affirmed the situation, urging for more collaboration between Ghana and Burkina Faso in effectively securing the regional trade and food security agenda.
“The two governments must cooperate and collaborate more. We used to have the Joint Trade Commission. It was working…Somehow, the bilateral dynamics changed, and we are back to square one, when we should have been long cooperating to accelerate our joint food security and trade agendas,” the official source observed.
Aside of that, he noted, stocks available in less turbulent farm-gates are minimal and, therefore, not in commercial quantities that would attract traders.
In addition, the situation is worsening because, even where the cargo is minimally available, bandits track trucks and cargo and raid traders and truckers on highways from Burkina Faso into the Paga exit point.
He further explained that though Burkina Faso share the production and harvest calendar with the Upper East, stocks in the region have also diminished because of the pressure from buyers in Ghana and Togo who are avoiding Burkinabe farm gates on account of activities of insurgents.
Both ECOWAS and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area AfCTFA Secretariat are yet to make public a framework and commitment to secure farm-gates and highways in living out the ambitious vision of intra-African trade.
That leaves cross border traders, particularly, vulnerable to acts of banditry from extremists who rob and rape traders along highway stretches from the Kintampo-Tamale-Bolgatanga stretches into adjoining highways and farm-gates in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
New Crusading GUIDE checks on farm-gate price of tomato reveal a staggering GHC2,300 per crate, with handling and cargo fares making some GHC700 to GHC800, pushing prices up to GHC3,000 with traders making minimal margins of profit, if cargo trucks arrived safely, without attacks.
