GB Foods Secures 6,000 Acres in Ghana for Tomato Expansion

In a move set to redefine the West African tomato value chain, GB Foods Africa has announced the acquisition of 6,000 acres (approximately 2,428 hectares) in Ghana’s Afram Plains. The investment marks a decisive shift in the company’s “seed-to-shelf” strategy, aiming to replace costly imports with high-yield, domestic production.

The announcement was formalized during a high-level diplomatic meeting on February 16, 2026, involving Ghana’s Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Spanish Ambassador Angel Lossada Torres-Quevedo, and GB Foods CEO Vicenç Bosch.

The new acquisition in the Eastern Region is more than three times the size of GB Foods’ current flagship farm in Nigeria—previously one of the largest in the region. This scale is intended to feed the company’s $5 million processing facility in Tema, which has been producing the household brands Gino and Pomo since 2023.

“For us, this is about developing the industry where we operate,” stated CEO Vicenç Bosch. “It is not about importing; it is about building local capacity.”

A critical component of this project is addressing the historic yield gap in West African horticulture. While global leaders like Spain and China achieve yields of 140 to 180 tonnes per acre, regional averages in Central and West Africa often languish between 5 and 10 tonnes.

GB Foods is proving that these figures can be disrupted:

• Nigeria Success: The company has already pushed yields to 60–70 tonnes per acre.
• Ghana Pilot: Initial two-year trials in Ghana recorded 20 tonnes per acre, with technical projections aiming to double that to 40 tonnes in the upcoming season.

The urgency of this project is underscored by recent data. Between 2020 and 2024, Ghana imported an average of 54,361 tonnes of tomato puree annually, with the import bill peaking at $85.4 million in 2024.

To protect this burgeoning local industry, Bosch has called for “supportive policy measures,” specifically a quota system similar to those implemented in Senegal and Nigeria. Such a framework would provide a five-to-seven-year window for local production to scale without being undercut by low-cost international concentrates.

Minister Ofosu-Adjare signaled strong government alignment with this vision, noting that domestic raw material control is the only way to ensure food security. “If your raw material is somewhere you do not control, when there is a problem there, you suffer,” she emphasized.

The Afram Plains project is not limited to tomatoes. The expansion plans include a 2,000-acre outgrower scheme designed to integrate smallholder farmers into the corporate supply chain. This scheme will diversify into Onions, Ginger, Garlic and Turmeric.

Furthermore, the company is already “Ghanainizing” its product line at the Tema facility, recently launching the local production of Shito, Ghana’s iconic spicy condiment.

With a commercial harvest expected in the coming weeks, the Afram Plains initiative represents more than just a farm; it is a blueprint for reducing foreign exchange “hemorrhaging” and building a resilient, industrial agribusiness sector in the heart of West Africa.

Sources: Citinewsroom, Agence Ecofin, Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness & Industry, Motai- Ghana