Put a total ban on the importation of tomato paste into the country. That was the request made to the federal government of Nigeria, by the managing director, Dangote Tomato Processing plant in Kadawa LGA of Kano State, Abdulkarim Kaita.
Kaita made the request during the distribution of tomato seedlings to 5,000 farmers under the Anchor Borrowers programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday, at Kadawa village in Kura Local Government Area of Kano state.
“We are appealing to the Federal Government to put a total ban on the importation of tomato like what it did to rice,” Kaita has been credited to have said.
Kaita said the call became necessary to boost local production of tomatoes and ensure that Nigeria was self sufficient in tomato production and other food items within its food chain.
According to him, the ban on the importation of tomato paste would help to foster the creation of more tomato processing plants nationwide, thereby creating more job opportunities for many people in the country.
Kaita lamented that the importation of tomato paste was still thriving as the commodity was being imported mainly from Cameroon and Cotonou in Benin Republic.
According to him, the company had on several occasions visited the Customs Headquarters and met the Controller General with a view to lodging complaint over the issue, but nothing has been done to put the ugly trend to check.
“It is only by putting a total ban on tomato importation that the government can encourage farmers to grow the commodity for the country to be self sufficient,” he said.
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