Tomato farmers in Ghana have committed suicide after they failed to sell their crop, according to Ghanaweb.com. Apparently a new factory promised to buy all the tomatoes they could grow, and then failed to start on time. I’m sorry for those farmers, but I’m horrified that anyone could put their faith in one buyer — not yet functional — and one crop. I thought it was only modern, high-tech farmers who failed to appreciate the buffering benefits of agricultural biodiversity.
I don’t think its a matter of learning. They had no choices for earning a few bucks.
I disagree. They were tempted to earn a few bucks and some had the ability to borrow to do so. And the temptation resulted in them ignoring one of the fundamental aspects of risk minimization. But of course we don’t know the whole story.