Fresh Perspectives 31 - The impact of PVS on West African growers producing for domestic and regional markets: a personal view

By Kwabena Adu-Gyamfi

Afrique Link Ltd (ALL) in conjunction with Unilever (Ghana) Ltd, Ghana's Ministry of Food and Agriculture and GTZ launched the Wenchi Tomato Processing Project (WTPP) to train 500 farmers in the production of quality fresh tomatoes to enable ALL processes to achieve the private specifications of Unilever.

• Out of the 500 only about 20 per cent complied with the requirements of the production protocols.  The remaining 80 per cent continued with old practices.

• Of the successful 20 per cent only 5 per cent respected the supply agreements. Most of them side -  sold to the fresh market for better money. The above situation was observed because of the supply demand imbalance.

• Five years down the line the situation has not improved. Imports of fresh tomatoes and processed  tomatoes grew by an average of 11 per cent per annum. Drawn on the ALL experience, this paper gives a personal view on how private standards affect West African farmers producing for domestic and regional markets and it provides some key lessons to take more advantage of opportunities.