Dangote Tomatoes Processing Limited has unveiled a N2.8bn greenhouse nursery in Kano to supply quality tomato seedlings to Nigerian farmers, as part of efforts to ensure the country becomes self-sufficient in tomato production.
Speaking on the project, Sani Dangote said the nursery is designed to use the automated Pat Moose planting technology, the first of its kind in Nigeria, with a capacity to process 350m tonnes of hybrid tomato seedlings per season for planting a 12,000 hectares tomato farm.
The pat moose process takes three weeks before proceeding to the next stage reducing the whole process of growing tomatoes to just three months.

Nigeria, Dangote said, consumes about 2.3m tonnes of tomatoes annually, assuring that the nursery has “created a capacity to triple tomato production, attaining self-sufficiency in tomato production as well as a potentially exporting surplus to neighboring countries.
“Furthermore, this nursery will produce the highest quality tomato seedling available, meaning that the farmers can grow the highest yield tomatoes. Currently, the yields produced by Nigerian farmers are less than the global standard. As a result, farmers will be able to earn more income from selling higher volumes of harvests each season.
“Nigeria is on a trajectory to becoming self-sufficient in rice, tomatoes and poultry production. This means that millions of jobs will be created for her citizens,” Dangote explained.
A statement by the company estimated that the African continent imports $40bn of food annually, despite having 65% of the world’s arable land, urging other African countries to adopt the public-private model on-going in Nigeria to also attain self-sufficiency in food production.