Agogo Is Rotting, Not From Lack Of Hard Work

Go to Agogo early in the morning and you will see them. Women balancing baskets on their heads. Young men pushing trucks loaded with fresh tomatoes; Major, Bronya, Adantemu. They have been on the farm since 4 a.m. For months they weeded and waited.

And then, on the road to the market, the tomatoes begin to die.

Not because the farmer is lazy. But because she picked a day too early, packed them in a raffia basket that bruises everything, and travelled without knowing what price waits for her at the market.

In Agogo, the heart of Asante Akyem North and one of Ghana’s biggest tomato belts, a farmer can lose almost half of her harvest before it is sold. While we lose food here, our traders still cross to Burkina Faso to bring tomatoes to Ghana. The factory that was promised with a sod-cutting last year in Agogo is still just grass.

What The Farmers Themselves Say
Speaking with the Chairman of the Agogo Pataban Tomato Growers Association, Ernest Akomeah, and his farmers, he did not mince words. He confirmed what the studies show that what happens in other districts is exactly what happens in Agogo.

According to him, the farmers are harvesting at the wrong time because they have no trusted information on when to pick, they are forced to use raffia baskets that destroy the tomatoes on the rough roads, there is no affordable place to keep tomatoes cool, and there is no reliable price information before market day. And there is no local processing outlet to save the surplus.

As he puts it, it is not that Agogo farmers do not know how to farm. It is that no one reaches them in time, through a channel they trust, with what they need to know to save their harvest. A lost basket for them is not a statistic it is unpaid school fees and no money to farm again.

This is not just about farming. It is about communication. The right information did not reach the right person at the right time.

If You Want To Help Agogo, Here Is How

We do not need to wait for a huge factory or a big government project to start helping.

Help fix how we carry tomatoes.
The raffia basket is our biggest enemy. One set of strong plastic crates can save a family’s harvest for two seasons. If you are an individual, an old student group, a church, or a company, you can support a household with crates.

Help the airwaves speak for the farmer.

In Agogo, farmers trust Salt FM and Asempa FM more than any flyer. They trust their fellow farmer who shows them on the farm. You can support community radio airtime for weekly farming programmes, or support the training of peer volunteers who walk from farm to farm.

Help build a place to keep tomatoes cool

A simple Zero-Energy Cool Chamber built with bricks, sand, and water can keep tomatoes fresh for days without electricity. You can help a community build one as a demonstration.

Help link farmers to buyers before harvest

The most painful loss is when a farmer harvests and there is no buyer. If you are a trader, restaurant, school feeding caterer, or market queen, talk to the Pataban Association. Arrange before they harvest.

Help us ask where the factory is
Agogo was promised a processing factory. The sod was cut. The cameras left. Nothing followed. We need voices from traditional leaders, media, and citizens to ask the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Municipal Assembly for an update.

I call this the Agogo Rural Development Initiative. It is a simple idea: build the communication system that helps knowledge become practice, and helps farmers’ voices reach those who make decisions.

Agogo already feeds Ghana. We just need to make sure what Agogo grows actually reaches your table.

The farmer waking at 4 a.m. will either meet timely information or another season of silence. We can choose which one she meets.

By Josephine Gyebuaah Ntiamoah - Agogo, Asante Akyem North

The writer is a Journalist and MA Development Communication student