At the weekend, a convoy of about 100 long articulator trucks fully loaded with onions made an entry in Ghana from its border with Burkina Faso on the northern tip of the country. It puts a stamp on the long-held belief Africa’s Sahelian region though poor, is doing something right in certain specializations in the hope of creating economic buoyancy.
On the reverse, only 2 smaller in size trucks loaded with plantain could be spotted moving in the opposite direction, ostensibly to Burkina Faso and Niger. The Two Sahelian countries have established themselves as major producers and suppliers of vegetables, particularly onions, and tomatoes but have yet to create the conditions necessary for growing yam, plantain, potatoes, and other such produce.
The onion trucks went through immigration and customs procedures and then took the beeline to destinations across Ghana and beyond from the Paga border, through Navrongo and Bolgatanga in Ghana’s Upper East region. On the basis of the Ecowas Protocol on the Free Movement of People and Goods within the West Africa sub-region, transportation or movements by land promotes an extent of intra-regional trade that could be the envy of many. The sub-regional bloc is seen as a launch pad of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area which has its headquarters in Accra, Ghana.
The Paga border itself is the scene of brisk business in all goods, most outstanding among these are vegetables like tomatoes and onions. Burkina Faso though not on the most fertile of agricultural lands is making a lot of inroads in vegetable cultivation through irrigation. Niger has also mobilized its people for onion production with the sole objective of holding a comparative advantage.
Ghana, a major importer or receptacle of Sahelian farm produce, also aims at optimizing the production of rice, sorghum, maize, and other cereals. Under the government’s planting for food and jobs, at least three major greenhouse technologies have been initiated to grow clean vegetables for supermarkets and for export. The plants are cultivated in domes that provide controlled conditions for healthy plant materials.
Somewhere in 2019, Ghana exported food to neighboring La Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso in significant quantities but has failed to maintain that momentum. In the meantime, and as always, the Burkinabe trucks thrusting Sahelian farm produce into Ghana, are the engines squealing the loudest in the greatest revelation of where Africa’s new food baskets may be found.
Ironically, West Africa lacks the capacity for processing perishable farm produce, and one of Ghana’s own, the Pwalugu Tomato factory which is now christened the Northern Star Tomato Factory built under Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s rule has not been in optimal use since his overthrow in 1966.
