The Dangote Tomato Processing Company, in Kano state says it would officially resume production on February 7, 2020. This was announced by the company’s Managing Director,Alhaji Abdulkarim Kaita.
It can be recalled that Dangote Tomato had suspended operations in April 2019 due to an inadequate supply of raw materials.
Ahead of its resumption, Kaita, who is also the Managing Director of Dangote Farms Ltd., said 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. Adding that when the company resumes operation, it would commence with 200 tonnes of fresh tomato per day until the supply of the commodity increased.
“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 tonnage,” he said.
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He further disclosed that the company had started buying the product from farmers who were registered under the Anchor Borrower programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Federal Government under the Anchor Borrower programme had registered 10,000 tomato growers to benefit from the intervention programme 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 late commencement of the distribution exercise.
The idea behind including tomato in the Anchor Borrower programme was borne out of the federal government’s commitment to support tomato growers and boost local production of the commodity in the country.
Juliet Ekwebelam
