Dangote Tomato Paste factory opens next month March 2016 in Kano, Nigeria

Dangote Tomato Paste factory opens next month March 2016 in Kano, Nigeria
Nigeria's Aliko Dangote builds Tomato Paste factory to create jobs, and even, indirectly, fight Boko Haram in Nigeria
It's a sector being described as Nigeria's new oil; the tomato industry.
Dangote Farms Limited (Tomato Processing Factory, Kadawa in Kano State) will become the Africa largest Tomato Processing Factory with an installed processing capacity of 1,200 metric ton of tomatoes per DAY is located in Kadawa-Bunkure axis of Kano State.. (APPROXIMATELY 40 TRUCKS OF TOMATO CROPS PER DAY)
THE Dangote Group is set to inaugurate a tomatoes paste factory worth N2.5 billion in Kadawa, Kura local government area of Kano State. The factory will employ more than 120 Nigerians and impact on more than 50,000 families engaging in tomatoes farming within the area and across Northern Nigeria.
The Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote is hoping to change tomato production in the country, with a giant factory that will boost domestic output, create jobs, and even, indirectly, fight Boko Haram.
Tomatoes are a huge part of Nigerian life, and every year 900,000 tonnes of tomato puree are consumed in jollof rice and fiery soups.
Nigeria has an abundance of tomatoes, about 1.5 million tonnes are produced annually, but it has lacked the capacity, will or ability to exploit the produce, forcing a reliance on imports.
When the Dangote factory opens next month (March 2016), it will provide about 430,000 tonnes of tomato paste annually.
It will directly employ 120 people and 50,000 farmers have been engaged.
On the impact of the factory on the lives of people in the neigh bourhood, Kano state and the nation, the Dangote tomato processing manager and food engineer Ashwin Patil, as sured that the factory, when fully operational, "will create price sta bility for tomato farmers when they harvest and they will do more than one cropping season hence forth."
"The presence of the tomato processing factory will encourage farmers in Kano and across many states in the Northern Nigeria to pro duce more. We will motivate them to get three crops per year and there will be increased job creation for those involved in the tomato production chain," Patil assured.
However, erratic power supply, which Nigeria has been grappling with for more than two decades, and lack of import controls remain the factory's main challenges.
Furthermore, Buhari led federal government should encourage and support indigenous manufacturers through cogent policies that could checkmate the influx of substandard and out-dated foreign products into Nigeria.
With more and more Tomato processing factories establishments across Nigeria, Nigeria's years of dependence on tomato paste and puree importation will come to an end and Nigeria could become exporter processed tomato paste and puree to other West Africa Sub Region an Across Africa to earn FOREX.
For the past five (5) years, the Dangote Group conglomerate has been working to build a N2billion tomato processing plant outside the northern city of Kano.
But it's hoped the giant factory the size of 10 football pitches, set alongside 17,000 hectares (acres) of irrigated fields, will help by tapping a potential agricultural goldmine.
The country's agriculture ministry puts annual current demand for tomato puree at 900,000 tonnes.
When the Dangote factory opens from next month it will provide 430,000 tonnes of paste that is used widely in Nigerian dishes from jollof rice to fiery soups.
"Nigeria is such a huge market for tomato paste that we will find quite challenging to satisfy," the factory's general manager, Abdulkarim Kaita, told CCTV.
"Already local tomato paste packaging companies have placed orders with us which we will have to work hard to satisfy.
"We are set to begin operations. We are only waiting for the tomatoes which are ripening in the fields."
– Supply boost –
Nigeria grows some 1.5 million tonnes of tomatoes every year, making it the 14th biggest producer of tomatoes in the world.
But it's forced to rely on imports of tomato puree, mostly from CHINA, because of a lack of processing plants.
~ Chike Okonkwo
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