Ghana spends over US$400 million annually on importing tomatoes from neighbouring countries
The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) has appealed to the government to revive the Pwalugu tomato factory.
According to the General Secretary of the union, Morgan Ayawine, reviving the factory will create jobs for the many unemployed youth in the Upper East Region.
He added that reopening the tomato factory would also help reduce the high importation of tomatoes, saving the country significant amounts of money.
Speaking at a regional conference in the Upper East Region on Saturday, March 29, 2025, Morgan Ayawine said, “So many businesses and industries have been left to go fallow. This is a serious concern for the Union, as it is exacerbating the already precarious unemployment situation in the country. A typical example is the Pwalugu tomato factory in the Upper East Region, which has been abandoned over the years, while the indigenes of the region remain unemployed.”
“For the factory to realise its economic potential and fulfil the purpose for which it was established, we wish to use this forum to appeal to the government to seriously consider reactivating the Pwalugu tomato factory to create employment for the unemployed youth and also save the nation the huge foreign exchange used to import tomatoes into the country,” he added.
According to reports, Ghana spends over US$400 million annually on importing tomatoes from neighbouring countries, including Burkina Faso.
Despite the Pwalugu tomato factory having the capacity to produce almost 500,000 metric tonnes of tomato paste per day, the factory has remained closed due to several factors, including a lack of raw materials, inadequate machinery for canning the paste, and various managerial issues.
The factory’s inability to operate at full capacity and the unprofitability of tomato farming in the area, due to low demand, has caused the factory to fail since its extended closure in the 1990s.
As a result, many farmers have shifted their attention to cultivating other crops or have migrated to the south for menial work.
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