Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, restated his administration’s commitment to actions and interventions that would make quality food affordable and accessible within the state.
Governor Sanwo-Olu made the pledge as the state joined the rest of the world to mark World Food Day, saying that the ongoing development of Food Security Systems and the Central Logistics Park in Ketu-Ereyun, Epe, was part of the current interventions by his government to ensure food affordability.
The Governor, who joined hundreds of farmers at Lagos Farm Fair, an event held at the Police College in Ikeja for the commemoration of 2023 World Food Day, stressed that the facility would help bring the food market closer to consumers and scale down food prices.
The event, themed “Water is Life, Water is Food; Leave No One Behind,” was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture with the objective to promote awareness and action against hunger and to highlight the need to ensure healthy diets for all.
Farmers from various local government areas of Lagos, who were supported by the state government through the Lagos APPEALS Project, exhibited their produce at the fair and offered reduced prices for bulk purchases of their crops.
Sanwo-Olu said that as the state’s population grows, there is a need for collaborative efforts and innovation to sustainably scale up agricultural production to meet demand while improving the food supply chain and security.
According to Sanwo-Olu, the completion of the Food Logistics Hub next year would centralise the state’s food supply from the farm to the markets where consumers would buy at affordable prices, saying that the facility was being developed with the capacity for long-term storage to reduce waste and loss.
He said the Logistics Hub was part of a “robust, integrated” plan of his administration to ensure food adequacy and sufficiency, pointing out that other initiatives focused on equipping farmers to raise productivity and supporting the market to make food affordable for end consumers.
“It is another year of commemoration of World Food Day. For us in Lagos, it is to celebrate and appreciate our resilient farmers while also bringing up a conversation about the need to ensure that food is affordable and accessible.
It is important to note that the current economic situation has made food prices go up, but I believe that with deliberate interventions that will bring the market closer to consumers, we can help bring down food prices.
“As part of our efforts, we are currently building the largest food logistics hub in West Africa, in addition to the middle-level markets we are opening across the state. By this time next year, we will 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,” he stated.
Speaking further, Governor Sanwo-Olu said despite the deficiency of land in Lagos, the state had been showing the way in urban farming in areas such as aquaculture, piggery, fishing, poultry, vegetable, and fruit production, reiterating his commitment towards providing infrastructure and creating incentives for farmers to meet residents’ nutritional needs.
The governor, while sadly noting that the Lagos-owned Imota Rice Mill hardly received adequate paddy rice from its suppliers to meet production capacity despite the collaboration with some key agrarian states for paddy rice supply, however, called on independent paddy rice farmers to collaborate with Lagos to sustain 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 at Lagos Rice Mill.
“We need a lot of paddies to meet production capacity. It doesn’t matter how much 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.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, noted in her speech that the event was held in the wake of critical food security issues facing the country and required “urgent” actions to scale up food production across the various value chains.
She said the Farm Fair would encourage action on food insecurity and promote the production and consumption of safe food, which would have immediate and long-term benefits for the people, the planet, and the economy.
“Not only is Lagos playing a frontline role in the aqua farming industry, but 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,” she said.
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