Government urged to ban tomato paste importation

Government has been urged to ban the importation of tomato paste and impose tariffs on rice importations into the country. This will increase local consumption of the products and save foreign exchange.

This was raised by participants at a durbar organized by the Ghana Trade and Livelihoods Coalition at Ashiaman to mark the Farmer's Week. 

There were farmer's representatives from the Northern Region, Ashanti, Ada, Asutuare, Afife, Okyereko and Ashiaman. 

The Coordinator of the Ghana Trade and Livelihoods Coalition, Ibrahim Akalbila, said the National Farmers Awards Day should be made more meaningful so that farmers at the grassroot levels are equally awarded. 

He added that there should be a national policy benchmark for farmers to work to meet such criteria for the National Farmers Award System.

  He appealed to government to address the concerns and efforts farmers are putting in place in feeding the nation and award them accordingly.