By Louis Ibah
Erisco Foods Limited is partnering a consortium of Asian tomato paste producers to establish a 750,000 metric tonnes per annum tomato paste processing plant in Katsina State.
President/CEO of Erisco Foods, Mr. Eric Umeofia, who disclosed this to Daily Sun, recently, said that the citing of the project in Katsina State would go a long way in harnessing the raw tomatos cultivated in the northern part of the country. He said the project is scheduled to commence by the first quarter of 2018, and that on completion in 2020, it would employ about 15,000 factory workers.
“Our foreign consultant recently confirmed to us that a consortium of Asian tomato paste producers have decided to collaborate with Erisco Foods Limited to build what would turn out to be the biggest tomato paste plant in the world in Katsina State,” Umeofia said.
“The capacity of the plant will be 750,000 metric tonnes per annum. This project is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2018 and it will be completed in two years.
It will have the capacity to employ up to 15,000 factory workers and 50,000 farmers,” he added. Umeofia said products from the factory would also be exported to other African countries to earn foreign exchange for the country.
Umeofia commended the Federal Government for banning the importation of tomato paste , noting that the company had previously engaged Asian consortium to partner with them in the establishment of a processing plant but that they had turned down the offer because it was more lucrative to import tomato paste than manufacture locally.
“The Asian consortium refused to collaborate with us when the importation of tomato paste was in full swing. They started indicating interest now because of the recent ban on imported tomato paste,” he said.