…As Elumelu donates N25bn
Lagos State has launched a food programme worth N500 billion targeted at bolstering food security and cutting down on food imports.
Named Produce for Lagos, the programme was launched by the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems on Wednesday.
Abisola Olusanya, commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Lagos State, said: “Today, we launch a bold, history-shaping intervention to rewire our food chain, reconnect our rural abundance with urban demand, and reward those who farm, trade, transport, and nourish us.
“This is the justice demanded of us by the tomato farmer in Zaria whose harvest rots by the roadside,” Olusanya said. “For the pepper trader in Mile 12 who pays double for logistics yet earns half for her labour, and for the millions who sleep hungry not because we lack food – but because we lack systems.”
Read also: Sowing in uncertainty: Why security is the soil for food security in northern Nigeria
The Produce for Lagos Initiative is not just another of the megacity’s food programmes. Rather, Lagos plans to be an offtaker of farm produce and livestock from major producing states. The process is expected to cut down on food waste, reduce food prices and create more jobs among youths.
For Olusanya, this is exactly what the nation needs. “The N500 billion fund gives the offtakers the confidence to buy, farmers the insurance to plant, provides finance that gives the boldness to invest,” she noted. “And for Nigeria, the certainty of daily nourishment.”
Situated on a 3,577 kilometres land mass, the south-western state is surrounded by more water than land. It is also overly populated with over 21 million people as of 2019.
Olusanya emphasised the need for an extension of food supply, noting that Lagos farmers alone cannot feed the over populated state.
“So today is not a leap of faith but a leap of strategy. Produce for Lagos is not just about Lagos, but linking this great city to every root and grain grown across the federation,” she noted. “It is saying to our sister states, if you grow it, Lagos will take it with dignity, structure, and guarantee offtake.”
According to Lagos State, the Produce for Lagos programme has been in the picture since 2019 when Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State, assumed office.
Read also: SGF, NGO seek unified climate policy framework to drive food security in Nigeria
Adding his voice to the conversation, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos State, stressed the necessity of the food programme, noting that it will ensure that everyone in the state affords food regardless of their class in society.
He urged other states to join the food security train by becoming partners, explaining that the programme is beyond political party agendas.
“There is no PDP or APC,” he said. “This is a Nigerian conversation, not just for our state but for our country Nigeria.”
Sanwo-Olu recalled how the global COVID-19 pandemic revealed how import-dependent the state was for its food needs. He said it has become “imperative and apparent that we must transform our food system so that Lagos can feed its people sustainably.”
