Vegetable, Fruit Sellers Welcome Ofosu-Agyare’s Nomination, Urge Re-Opening of Tanoboase Tollbooth

Tanoboase: Vegetable and fruits sellers around the Tanoboase toll booth in the Techiman North District of the Bono East Region have hailed the nomination of Mrs. Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare as the Minister-designate for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry. While expressing their appreciation to President Mahama for the nomination, the traders called on the President to expedite action for the re-opening of the toll booth.According to Ghana News Agency, Madam Salomey Kruwaa, the Leader of the Tanoboase Fruits Sellers Association, regretted that the economic activities of most of the traders had collapsed due to the closure of the tollbooth. As the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, she said most of the traders and market women in the district were happy about the nomination of Mrs. Ofosu-Agyare, hoping to see improvement in the mango and vegetable sectors.She said those sectors were highly economically viable, but certain challenges were impeding the growth of the sectors. Other traders at the Tuobodom centra l market told the GNA that they were also happy about the nomination of their MP, saying they were optimistic that Mrs. Ofosu-Agyare would use her new political portfolio to tackle post-harvest vegetable and fruit losses in the area.The constituency is well noted mostly for the commercial plantation of tomatoes and fresh mangoes. However, due to a lack of storage and processing factories, quantities of the tomatoes and mangoes go waste during the crop season every year. Reacting to the nomination of the MP by President John Dramani Mahama, the traders, mostly women, said they had confidence in the MP, anticipating the setting up of processing and storage facilities to add value to raw tomatoes and mangoes and prevent wastage too.They expressed appreciation to President Mahama for giving their MP the opportunity to serve in his government. Madam Salamatu Osman, a tomato seller, said she and the vegetable sellers all welcomed Mrs. Ofosu-Agyare's nomination with excitement, saying as a woman, they were highl y optimistic that the Minister-designate would expedite action for the establishment of the Women's Bank policy of the government.Another trader engaged in pepper and tomatoes at the Tuobodom central market, Mad Adjoa Agyeiwaa, told the GNA that the market women were highly in anticipation of the setting up of the Women's Bank to enable them to access soft loans and to grow their economic activities. Madam Regina Amo Gyamfi, who also sells fruits at the market, called for investments in the fruits, saying with factories, value could be added to raw mangoes for fruit juice and other purposes.