koranteng 's Profile

Three tomato farmers in the region committed suicide in 2008 and many others attempted to, according to the General Agriculture Workers Union.

Women who control produce, suppliers and prices throughout the country, buy tomatoes across the border in Burkina Faso at cheaper prices, leaving local farmers to watch their crops rot in the sun, farmers told IRIN.

The women - known as 'queens' - priced a crate of Ghanaian tomatoes at US$150 at the beginning of 2008 and at just $10 by the end of the year. Prices in the volatile industry are now up again - to $120 a crate - but tomato farmer Martin Pwayidi based in Upper East Region told IRIN this price is not likely to stick.

Pwayidi lost the $2,000 he had secured from a bank and invested into his four-acre tomato farm in 2008 because no one would buy from him. "Last year was very terrible for me; I lost everything. There was absolutely no reason to live. I am just lucky to still be alive today [and not to have committed suicide]," Pwayidi, told IRIN.

Five of Pwayidi's friends attempted suicide in 2008. "Some tried to hang themselves; others drank insecticides and disinfectants." Ninety percent of the two million people in the Upper East region and its neighbours are involved in tomato cultivation.

Ghana produces 510,000 metric tons of tomatoes each year, while it imports up to 7,000mt per month from its neighbours, along with 27,000mt of processed tomatoes from Europe each year, according to the Ghana National Tomato Producers Federation.