On Monday, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to actions and interventions that would make nutritious food affordable and accessible throughout the state.
The Governor stated that the ongoing development of Food Security Systems and the Central Logistics Park in Ketu-Ereyun, Epe, was part of his government’s current interventions to ensure food affordability, emphasizing that the facility would help bring the food market closer to consumers and reduce food prices.
Sanwo-Olu was among hundreds of farmers who attended the Lagos Farm Fair, which was hosted at the Police College in Ikeja to commemorate World Food Day 2023.
The Ministry of Agriculture organized the event with the subject “Water is Life, Water is Food; Leave No One Behind” to raise awareness and action against hunger, as well as to emphasize the importance of ensuring nutritious diets for all.
Farmers from various Lagos Local Government Areas who were assisted by the State Government through the Lagos APPEALS Project displayed their produce at the Fair and offered reduced pricing for bulk purchases of their crops.
Sanwo-Olu stated that as the State’s population grows, there is a need for joint efforts and innovation to sustainably scale up agricultural production to satisfy demand while strengthening the food supply chain and security.
The completion of the Food Logistics Hub next year, according to the Governor, will centralize the State’s food supply from the farm to markets where customers may buy at low costs. He stated that the facility was being built with long-term storage capacity in order to reduce waste and loss.
He said: “It is another year of commemoration of the World Food Day. For us in Lagos, it is to celebrate and appreciate our resilient farmers, while also bringing up a conversation on the need to begin to ensure that food is affordable and accessible. It is important to note that the current economic situation has caused the prices of food to go up, but I believe with deliberate interventions that will bring the market closer to the consumers, we can help to bring down the food prices.
“As part of our efforts, we are currently building the largest Food Logistics Hub in West Africa in addition to middle-level markets we are opening across the State. By this time next year, we would have completed the first phase of the project. The Logistics Food market will be the central hub through which all farm produce will come into Lagos. The facility has cold and dry storages from which food will be supplied to the middle-level markets and where products go to the retail shops.”
Sanwo-Olu stated that the Logistics Hub was part of his administration’s “robust, integrated” approach to secure food availability and sufficiency. Other programs, he said, were aimed at equipping farmers to increase productivity and assisting the market to make food more cheap to end users.
Despite a lack of land in Lagos, the Governor stated that the state has led the way in urban farming in fields including aquaculture, piggery, fishing, poultry, vegetable, and fruit production. He reaffirmed his commitment to providing infrastructure and establishing incentives for farmers to meet the nutritional needs of residents.
Despite coordination with certain key agrarian States for paddy rice supply, Sanwo-Olu stated that the Lagos-owned Imota Rice Mill was unable to achieve output capacity due to a lack of paddy rice from its suppliers. He urged independent paddy rice growers to work with Lagos to ensure the sustainability of rice production.
“Farming is an important component of our Government’s activities. We need to grow what we eat and eat what we grow. While we have collaborated with some major agricultural states within the country, we are also looking for independent paddy rice farmers across the federation to raise paddy supply to Lagos Rice Mill. We need a lot of paddies to meet up with production capacity. It doesn’t matter the tonnage of paddy rice they have, we are ready to take it up. This is calling on paddy growers across the country to key into this opportunity,” he said.
Ms. Abisola Olusanya, Commissioner for Agriculture, stated that the event was arranged in response to the country’s significant food security concerns, which necessitated “urgent” efforts to scale up food production throughout the various value chains.
She stated that the Farm Fair will stimulate action on food insecurity, as well as the production and consumption of safe food, which would benefit people, the earth, and the economy in the short and long term.
“Not only is Lagos playing a frontline role in the aqua farming industry, we are also key players in the production of other crops and edible produce. This year’s commemoration of World Food Day is to come out and encourage our farmers, and create a platform for them to be aware of all the incentives and interventions we have created for them,” the Commissioner said.
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