Gombe tomato company reopens soon ― Gov Yahaya

Gov. Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, on Thursday in Gombe, said the state government would soon reopen the moribund tomato company in Kumo.

Yahaya made this disclosure while declaring open a food and security summit with the theme: “Public-Private-Partnership Inter-State Food Commodity Value Chain’’.

Represented by Prof. Abubakar Njodi, Secretary to the State Government, the governor said that reopening the company would allow job creation and encourage tomato cultivation in the state.

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The governor said that the summit provided a platform for stakeholders to discuss and establish collaborations that would enhance food security.

Yahaya charged participants to use the opportunity provided by the summits to work out modalities towards harnessing of the potential in the tomato economy.

“As a government, we plan to reopen the moribund tomato company, we are putting it in use in the next three months, activities will start at the company.

“This is to encourage farmers of tomatoes and it is also envisaged that the factory will employ no fewer than 1,000 persons,” he said.

The governor further stated that the state had huge potential for irrigation farming, with the existence of Dadin Kowa, Balanga and Cham dams.

“The state has the potential for agricultural marketing and agro-industries such as ginneries, oil, seed processing, tomatoes, sugar and rice processing.

”You will also agree that he large bodies of water have made fishing popular in the state,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the summit aims at bringing together all actors along the rice and groundnut value chains in a Public-Private-Partnership platform.

NAN