Standu9ja - Dangote Tomato Processing Factory relies on
local fresh tomatoes for operations
Alhaji Abdulkarim Kaita, Managing Director of Dangote Tomato
Processing Factory, Kadawa, Kano State, says the company is relying on local
fresh tomatoes as raw materials for its
operations.
Kaita said in a statement in Kano on Friday that the factory
did not require any foreign exchange to import its raw materials.
He urged members of the public to disregard the story in a
national newspaper that the factory was shut due to lack of foreign exchange.
The managing director said that the factory had completed
the necessary arrangements to resume production in the first week of February
when the fresh tomato season would start.
He explained that the company stopped production about nine
months ago due to lack of enough raw materials, following the outbreak of a
pest which ravaged tomato farms in five states including Kano.
“The company had to suspend production in March 2016, when
most of the tomato farms in about five states were affected by a pest which
destroyed all tomato species,” he said.
He countered a report on its purported closure over lack of
foreign exchange to continue operations at the factory.
“Our attention has been drawn to a publication that the
Dangote Tomato Factory has been closed down due to lack of foreign exchange.
“We wish to categorically refute this story that does not
emanate from our company,” Kaita said.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture puts an annual current
demand for tomato puree at 900,000 tonnes.
When the Dangote factory was opened, it was expected to
provide 430,000 tonnes of paste that was 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, had earlier said. (NAN)
No comments:
Post a Comment