Lagos food market size worth N5trillion annually, says Agric Commissioner
By Adeola Ogunrinde
Lagos State Government on Tuesday said the Lagos food market size is N9billion in daily transaction value and N5trilion annually.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, disclosed this on Tuesday during the 2024 Ministerial Press Briefing, at Alausa, Ikeja, to mark the first year of the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led second term in office.
In her address Olusanya said “Lagos must prepare for the realities of a fast changing global supply chain developments, ie the African Continental free trade agreement may impact on food systems given the huge dependence of the West Africa coastal countries on food trade with Lagos through the land borders, a large logistics hub will play an important role in data gathering, assist the government in its agility to respond to charges, stem inflation , and improve service delivery.
“As a proactive frontline city. Lagos must prepare for the realities of a changing global supply chains developments I e the African Continental free trade agreement may impact on food systems given the huge dependence of the West Africa coastal countries on food trade with Lagos through the land boarders.”
Speaking on the hubs established by the Lagos government, Olusanya said the Ministry of Agriculture carried out a series of sensitisation programmes on good market standards and culture, product handling and hygiene, zero-waste and optimum return for food market operators across markets in Lagos, tagged: “Lagos Food Systems’ Champions Sensitisation Programme.”
The commissioner noted that over 2,713 traders and butchers from major markets across the state participated in the programme.
“The overarching goal of the training is to entrench good practices, proper food storage and presentation and promote the hub.”
As part of the ministry’s feat in the past year, Olusanya said that the governor announced the “Lagos Market Trader Money” initiative to support 15,000 market traders across the 57 local government and local council development areas with N50,000.00 each.
The intervention, the commissioner noted, aimed to increase their capital base, enhance profit and improve livelihoods.
She said that the beneficiaries were selected in collaboration with the 57 LGA/LCDAs chairmen and market masters, as 250 beneficiaries were selected from each LGA/LCDA.
750 beneficiaries from barracks (Military, Air Force, Naval, and Police) across the state were among identified barracks.
Olusanya disclosed that the state government introduced the Agri-thon, an innovative platform that blends young business owners and technologists, to ideate, formulate and render the Lagos food systems concepts that embody the future of agriculture.
“AgriThon serves as a blithesome, explorative platform nurturing originative ideas affirming innovation. An opportunity for application pitching, idea transformation, realisation with competent teams for building, delivering value, consequently presented evaluated and supported by business leaders in the economy,” she said.
“Another milestone of the Ministry of Agriculture, Olusanya asserted, is the Agricultural Value Chains Enterprise Activation Programme (AVCEAP), which is designed to provide agricultural inputs and productive assets to agripreneurs in farming, artisanal fishing, aquaculture, agro-processing and marketing with business activator/starter packs, while nurturing existing agribusinesses into scalable profit-making and sustainable ventures and opening new windows of opportunities for active youth development”, she added.
Olusanya stressed that the Eko Agro Mechanisation, which involves procurement of tractors and complimentary accessories to reduce drudgery in farm operations.
She added that mechanisation services were provided to over 3,000 farmers for enhanced food security.
According to the commissioner, mechanisation services can be accessed by farmers through Tractor-On -The-Go, a tractor hailing application on smart phone.
She mentioned, among others achievements of the Agriculture Ministry, the production of coconut seedlings, which is to enhance local coconut production by providing high-quality, disease-resistant coconut seedlings to farmers.
She said there is also the production of Eko coconut oil, which is a local processing infrastructure for the extraction of high-quality coconut oil, contributing to self-sufficiency and reduced dependency on imported coconut oil.
On the development of rice value chain, Olusanya said that Lagos State is the largest consumer of rice in the country with an estimated consumption of about two million metric tonnes per annum.
“The mill is part of the government’s commitment towards ensuring food security in the state, which is a key component of the T.H.E.M.E.S + Development Agenda of Mr. Governor to make Lagos State a 21st Century economy.”
She asserted that the State government has partnered with its Niger State counterpart on the “Produce for Lagos Initiative” towards the supply of agricultural produce from Niger State to Lagos.
