FG to ban importation of Tomato paste

-




The federal government is set to finally ban the importation of tomato paste before the end of 2019

The minister of agriculture and natural resources, Audu Ogbeh, disclosed this during a tour of the Dangote Tomato Processing Plant in Kadawa, Kano State.

According to the report, Mr Ogbeh said the ban will encourage massive tomato production.
“The federal government has set aside N250 billion through the Central Bank of Nigeria and Bank Agriculture to disburse as soft loans to tomato farmers as part of the Anchor Borrower scheme.

"Federal government will continue to encourage Dangote agro-farms and the farmers to grow massive tomatoes in Nigeria and with this kind of outfit, farmers will earn more with better seedlings from the Dangote greenhouse and get better results,” the minister said.

“The farmers will supply to the processor and eventually join tomato breeders in the world. In a short while, Nigeria will simply stop importation and dependence on other sources for tomato supply.”

The report further explained that $22 billion is spent on tomato paste importation annually.

Also on the Tour, The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said “the bank supported Dangote 
greenhouse with N1.3billion to produce hybrid tomato seedlings to enhance massive local cultivation.

“The greenhouse plant will produce 3 million seedlings which will supply to farmers. With this hybrid tomato seedling, farmers will be able to produce over 70,000 tons per hectare against the 10,000 tons,” he said.

“To this end, this output will encourage farmers to increase their production and provide job opportunity. Let me emphasize the federal government ban on those foods and other items we can produce in this country still remain on the banning list,” he said.

The tomato processing plant had a daily production capacity of 1,200 metric tons per day.
But operations at the plant were suspended in 2016 after an invasion by Tuta Absoluta, a leaf-mining moth, which destroyed tomato farms.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ASUU denies receiving N163bn, say strike continues…..

-
Image
   The Academic Staff Union of Universities has denied receiving any fund from the Federal Government.  The union called on the Federal Government to stop distorting facts about funds released to the union.  The President of the union, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, made this comment in an interview with The Nation newspaper over the weekend.  Ogunyemi said the ongoing strike was still lingering due to a few disagreements between the government and the union on the mode of releasing the agreed funds. The ASUU President said the comment credited to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige that N163 billion was released to the Union was a distortion of facts.  It would be recalled that Ngige had made the statement in Abuja last week Monday while speaking with journalists after a closed-door reconciliatory meeting with the leadership of the union. “Government has released about N163 billion from TET...
Read more

Kano Traders close shops over Buhari’s Campaign

-
Image
Traders in Kano State have closed their shops in Kano for President Muhammadu Buhari’s continuation of campaign for his re-election in the forthcoming presidential poll. Traders who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria said they needed to shut down for security reasons, while some said they closed their shops to enable them to attend the function. Malam Usman Bala, a shop owner at the famous Kwari textiles market, said many shops remained shut because the venue of the presidential rally was close to the market. “In order to safeguard our goods, many of us did not even go to the market, while some opened for few hours in the morning, and then, shut down,” Bala said. Similarly, petty traders around Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital and Rimi market also said that they closed their shops due to closeness to the venue of the event. However, Yahuza Aminu said, they had a tough time last week when a political party held a rally at the same venue. “Young men...
Read more

"Toyo Baby" and Lateef Adedimeji's wedding photos trail reactions

-
Image
Lateef Adedimeji and Toyo baby What a Combo? ..................Wow!!!. Social media fans of popular actor, Lateef Adedimaji and actress, Olayode Juliana have shown mixed feelings about the recent wedding photos uploaded by both of them. Lateef who posted a photo from a scene still on set portraying him and Olayode as couples in a series named "Tomorrow is Now" said, "Love is a beautiful thing". Re-posting the photo, Olayode popularly known as "Toyo baby" from Jenifa's diary also replied by saying "Love is in indeed a beautiful thing. Excitements, shock and anger rose from the post a followers saw it. View comments below:
Read more