Kunle Adelabu
The Lagos State Government has kicked off partnership programme with Niger and Kwara States, towards bridging food supply-demand gaps under the Produce-4-Lagos Initiative.
As a market-city State, Lagos is consumer-centric and requires large quantities of food to cater for its population’s needs.
Looking inward first, the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture is supporting local Lagos farmers to boost food production, particularly in livestock, fisheries and horticulture. In large commercial quantities, Niger and Kwara, as part of the broader picture of attaining Mr. President’s food security agenda, have the competitive and comparative production edge in fulfilling the Lagos demand.
Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, at the meeting held at The Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, with her counterparts from the partnering states – Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development, Kwara State, Mrs Oloruntoyosi Thomas and Commissioner for Industry, Trade, Investment and Private Sector Development, Niger State, Mr. Aminu Suleman Takuma, reminded them of the directive of President Bola Tinubu on food security and engagement of youths in the country.
“President Tinubu made an executive order last year July about food security and he has lined up programmes to achieve this, particularly towards stemming the food inflation and ensuring youths are actively engaged in Agriculture, and more importantly, on how to scale food production’, the Lagos Agric Commissioner said.
“Kwara shares a border with Niger, they have the land, people and capabilities to produce. This is an agenda that we have for a lot of states in Nigeria, not just Kwara and Niger States.
She stressed that historically, Nigeria is an Agro producing nation before the strength dwindled, and that it became expedient to reinvigorate the production capability of the states across Nigeria, and ensure they are living up to their potential in terms of food production.
The Commissioner, who assured of sustainability of the partnership, said that governors of the respective states are already engaging, but that the meeting was to fine-tune and set the process in motion.
“We understand our positioning as a state, which is the market for West Africa. So, we are making efforts to ensure our people continue to get cheaper, wholesome and quality food, and ensure the general prosperity and health of our citizenry”, she said.
She added that in the last four years, the Agricultural Road Map and numerous partnerships by the state have yielded fruits with the establishment of the Lagos Central Food Security Systems and Logistics Hub, Middle Level Agroproduce hub, as well as Last Mile Markets created by the state government towards ensuring food security and sustainability.
Olusanya, who hinted that the phase one of the Central Food Security Systems and Logistics Hub, Ketu-Ereyun, Epe, would be completed and commissioned later this year, also expressed the readiness of the state to receive food supplies from other states as she emphasised the need to ensure steady food supply to the hubs.
“There is nothing you bring to Lagos that will not sell, from tubers, to grains, and perishables, because there is a target audience for it. It is not so much about reinventing the wheel, there are markets in Lagos for food items that come into the state”, she said .
“This will mark the beginning of collaboration with other states and subsequently, we should be able to see better food pricing, reduced post-harvest loss and wealth creation for our farmers and value chain actors through improved revenues. We have to move in the direction that we are not just stopping in the area of production alone, value addition is key for us as a nation, to preserve, to keep our food longer and reduce wastage.”
The Kwara State Commissioner of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Oloruntoyosi Thomas, applauded the initiative which she described as a major milestone to boost agriculture in Nigeria, close the gaps of unemployment and increase food processing and production.
“It is a way of bridging gaps and building communities and empowering our farmers, and it is about ensuring that there is food security. We are happy to key into this to be able to feed Kwarans first before we can feed Lagos and Nigeria as a whole”, she said.
On his part, the Niger State Commissioner of Industry, Trades, Investment and Private Sector Development, Mr. Aminu Takuma, mentioned that the move will go a long way to further transform the agricultural strategy of Niger State to blossom and yield the needed fruits for economic growth.
“What we have done today, is what will make the Agricultural Transformation Strategy of Niger State, to work, because the Governor has kick started it with the preparation of 600 hectares of land for cultivation. This will be allocated to youths for cultivation and government will provide inputs, including the seeds and fertilizers”, the Niger State Commissioner said.
He added that, “the thinking initially was who will offtake? Now, we have an off-taker, because we are going to be the producing state while Lagos will be the consuming state. What we need to know now is what produce do they want in Lagos, because everything you throw to the ground in Niger State, grows.”
He is optimistic that the relationship will engender robust development in the area of improving the food system, while looking at other states coming on board to further develop the Agriculture ecosystem.
Speaking earlier, Mr Cezar Rizzi, representing the Campo, a technical partner from Brazil, said that the partnership would benefit both countries as it has successfully engaged some other African countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda and Kenya, stressing that South America is a tropical area with similar climate like Nigeria and could help to improve the Agriculture productivity in such as Cattle and poultry production among others.
