Photograph — Investors King

Six months after resuming operations from an almost three-year shutdown, Dangote tomato factory has once again ceased operations. The latest setback is as a result of the plant’s inability to get required feedstock from farmers, who had switched to other crops at the beginning of the rainy season in May.

The plant, which has the capacity to produce 1,200 tonnes of processed tomatoes per day, was set up to lower imports of tomato paste mostly from China. It has been unable to achieve that objective, having faced several difficulties such as continued tomato paste imports, shortfalls in the supply of fresh tomatoes and power failure.

In 2016, the factory was closed over a supply disruption partly caused by a price dispute with farmers. That was the situation for over two years until March this year when it was reopened.

Read More at Nairametrics

Elsewhere on Ventures

Triangle arrow