Dangote to resume tomato production

The Dangote Tomato Processing Company, Kano, has announced that it would officially resume production on February 7, 2020. This announcement came from the company’s Managing Director, Alhaji Abdulkarim Kaita.

Recall that Dangote Tomato had suspended operations in April 2019 due to an inadequate supply of raw materials. Nairametrics understands that the tomato processing factory closed down because it was unable to get its required feedstock from farmers.

Ahead of its resumption, Kaita made known that the company had recruited no fewer than 100 skilled and casual workers as part of its preparation to run the company for 24 hours on a daily basis.

Kaita also disclosed the company’s aims for the year as it gears up to resume. He said it would commence by producing 200 tonnes of fresh tomato per day until the supply of the commodity increased. He said the company had started buying the product from farmers, who were registered under the Anchor Borrower program of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“The plant has the capacity to process 1,200 tonnes of fresh tomatoes per day. But for a start now, we are going to process 200 tonnes per day. But as time goes on, we will increase the number of tonnages,” Kaita said as reported by Daily Trust.

(READ MORE: Dangote Tomatoes CEO seeks total ban on tomato import )

What you should know: No less than 10,000 tomato growers were to benefit from the Federal Government under the Anchor Borrower program during the dry season farming.

However, following some challenges in the distribution of the tomato seedlings, only 1,000 out of the 10,000 registered farmers were able to access the seedlings due to the late commencement of the distribution exercise

Tomato farmers at Dangote Farms were also affected by the delay in the distribution of the seedlings. It had a negative impact on the farmers as they were unable to clear their farms in preparation for the next planting season.