Africa’s Richest Man Vies With China Over Nigerian Tomatoes

Shittu Ibrahim ekes out a living for his two wives and 11 children by selling tomatoes he grows to passersby along a highway that runs through the Kadawa Valley near Kano, the biggest city in northern Nigeria. With no way to find new customers, about two-thirds of his crop rots.

Now the country’s central bank and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, have teamed up to establish a $25 million tomato-paste factory that could boost income for Ibrahim and the 8,000 farmers who live in the valley.