New Economy Forum

Dangote's Nigeria Tomato Plant Resumes After Years Idling

  • Company agrees to buy from farmers at market-linked prices
  • Plant designed to meet domestic demand for tomato paste
Aliko DangotePhotographer: JWei Leng Tay/Bloomberg
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A tomato-paste factory owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, resumed production in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano after staying idle for more than two years over a supply disruption partly caused by a price dispute with farmers.

The factory, with a capacity for 1,200 metric tons of tomato paste daily and targeted at meeting domestic demand, restarted production last week processing about 100 tons a day. It will ramp up output as tomato supply improves, according to Abdulkareem Kaita, the managing director of Dangote Farms Ltd, which owns the factory.