The Lagos State government says it is committed to implementing the five-year agricultural and food systems roadmap to achieve 40 per cent food self-sufficiency by 2025.

Abisola Olusanya, the state commissioner for agriculture, stated this at the Lagos Food Systems Stakeholders’ Breakfast Meeting on Thursday in Lagos.

The five-year agricultural food systems roadmap was launched in 2021 by Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Ms Olusanya said the state government would provide funds for agricultural service providers, improve rice paddy production and land bank collaboration with sister states.

“We will go live on eight projects, which include Central Logistics Hub, Lagos Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (LACE), capacity building for horticulture stakeholders, full operations and capacity building for stakeholders in the Lagos Food Production Centres.

“Others are the execution of state-wide intervention and Green Wall Initiative,” she said.

Ms Olusanya listed others as the establishment of the Agricultural Value Chains Entreprise Activation Programme, Agri-thon, Lagos Cares, Lagos Entrepreneurship Programme and the Lagos Agric Scholars Programme.

“The state government will also create the Lagos Agrinnovation Clusters, the Food Value Chains’ Destination, the Lagos Central Food Security System and Logistics Hub and the Middle-Level Agro Product Hub.”

Ms Olusanya said part of the roadmap was to increase the production of the rice paddy in order to meet the growing rice consumption of the state.

The commissioner said the state government would increase the production of rice paddy by partnering with other sister states, such as Niger and Kebbi states, on land bank collaboration.

Ms Olusanya listed the projects to be undertaken by the state government, including Lagos Rice Mill, the Central Logistics Hub, – the Red Meat Initiative, the Lagos Feedlot System and the Butchers’ Academy, among others.

The commissioner said the ministry would set up the Lagos feedlot system, establish the Butchers’ Academy, and create a last-mile meat shop.

Ms Olusanya said the purpose of the meeting was to inform the stakeholders about the ministry’s activities for the year 2024 and also get their contributions.

Also speaking, the special adviser to the governor on agriculture, Dr Oluwarotimi Fashola, said the state government would require N50 billion to produce 100,000 tonnes of rice paddy in 2024.

Mr Fashola said the Imota Rice Mill was able to produce 15,000 tonnes of rice paddy in 2023.

“We started off with about 5,000 tonnes of paddy, and with the ingenuity of the team, we were able to partner with the Commodity and Exchange Board bringing another close to 10,000 paddy for us to end the year.

“We were able to do roughly about 15,000 tonnes of paddy, which is over 120,000 bags of rice in 2023, but this year, we are hoping to do 100,000 tonnes of paddy.

“Believe me, that is not cheap because last year we started at about N200,000 per ton, but today, as I speak, the cost of paddy is about N510,000 per ton.

“In other words, if we are going to do 100,000 tonnes per paddy, we will need N50 billion,” he said.

Mr Fashola said the state government was currently in talks with Niger and Kebbi states to give them farmers on a large scale that it could buy paddy from at reasonable costs.

Also, Emmanuel Olotu, chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Agriculture, urged stakeholders in the agricultural space to improve agricultural production in 2024.

Mr Olotu commended the Ministry of Agriculture for its contributions in heading the programme to allow them to collectively share the goals and projects for the year 2024.

He said: “Our shared goal should be the development of resilient and efficient that can benefit our farmers and customers and improve on the agricultural plan agenda.

“Lagos State through the Ministry of Agriculture is to create agro stakeholders in order to leverage on the developmental agenda of the state.”

Mr Olotu said as agro stakeholders, their role was pivotal by maximising the groundwork led by the ministry.

He urged stakeholders to collectively shape the food system by offering full support to unlock the full potential of the food system and contribute to the development of agriculture in the state.

The state’s head of civil service, Olabode Agoro, said the state government was bringing back Operation Feed the Nation by allowing the civil servants to participate in the agricultural sector.

Mr Agoro said his mother, a retired civil servant, was also into agriculture produce, urging the civil servants in the state to engage in agriculture.

In his remarks, Mosopefolu George, the state commissioner for economy, planning and budget, said the state government has already increased its budget on agriculture.

Mr George attributed the increase to the importance of the food chain and agriculture system to the state.

He noted that the ministry had been doing well in the area of rice mills, food and logistics hub just to mention a few.

(NAN)