Governor Sanwo-Olu Empowers 3000 Agripreneurs

• Thursday’s empowerment scheme is not unconnected to Governor Sanwo-Olu’s THEMES agenda, which has aptly identified Agriculture as a veritable enterprise that is capable of driving the State’s goal of becoming a 21st century economy.

Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday, July 29, 2021, empowered 3,000 agripreneurs at the 2021 annual Agricultural Value Chains Enterprise Activation Programme at the Police College, Ikeja Lagos.

As gathered by Eko Hot Blog, over 70% of the beneficiaries are women and youths. The Programme has been specifically targeted at three value chains of poultry, fisheries (artisanal) and piggery.

The 3,000 beneficiaries include 300 Lagos Agripreneurship Programme (LAP)/Agricultural Youth Empowerment Scheme (Agric-YES) participants, 400 pig farmers, 680 fishermen, 190 fish cage culture beneficiaries, 360 egg marketers, 500 fish processors, 200 rice farmers and 370 crop farmers.

Thursday’s empowerment scheme is not unconnected to Governor Sanwo-Olu’s THEMES agenda, which has aptly identified Agriculture as a veritable enterprise that is capable of driving the State’s goal of becoming a 21st century economy.

Recall that Governor Sanwo-Olu, during the official inauguration of the five-year Agricultural and Food Systems Roadmap in Lagos, had announced that the state was expected to generate $10 billion (about N4 trillion) in the agriculture sector in the next five years.

He said that most of the investments were expected to be private sector-driven with the needed infrastructure provided by the government.

”The projection is that the total investment in the agricultural sector from the government, private sector, donor agencies and development partners will run into over $10 billion in the next five years.

”The focus of the five-year roadmap is to develop the agricultural value chains where Lagos State has competitive and comparative advantages.

”It will help to enhance the state’s self-sufficiency in food production from 18 per cent to 40 per cent and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Lagos State.

”The roadmap is, therefore, the most appropriate tool needed to unleash the capacity to produce the most-consumed agricultural products in the state and to accelerate the establishment of farms and agri-businesses,” Sanwo-Olu said.

He said the state could no longer afford to rely exclusively on other states for its food, stressing that it was time for the state to unlock its immeasurable agricultural potential.

The governor said the roadmap would also lead to wealth generation, value creation, food security, industrialisation of the agricultural sector and the entrenchment of inclusive socio-economic development of the state.

According to him, the roadmap essentially focuses on three pillars which are the growth of the upstream sector, growth of the midstream and downstream sectors, as well as improvement of the private sector participation.

”Our strategies for sustainable agricultural development shall focus on three pillars which includes to grow the upstream sector through interventions by leveraging technologies that are capable of lowering the cost of production of farming with the support from donor agencies.

”We will also focus on growing the midstream and downstream sectors which involves processing, handling, storage, cold chain, packaging, utilisation and commercialisation.

”Government will also help the private sector with business-friendly credits,” he said.

The governor disclosed that the state had already started revamping its Agricultural Land Holding Authority, to support the investment.

He added that the coconut belt would also be strengthened with increased private sector involvement.

Mr Sanwo-Olu said some of the landmark investment which would help the smooth delivery of the roadmap included the State Aquatic Centre of Excellence (LACE).

He said LACE would boost fish production from 20 per cent to 80 per cent.

Others, he said included, the Imota Rice Mill, the Lagos Food Production Centre Avia, Igborosu-Badagry, as well as other state-wide agriculture focused initiatives.

Also, the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, said the roadmap was a brain-child of the Agricultural Stakeholders’ Summit held at the inception of Sanwo-Olu administration.

Ms Olusanya said private sector partnerships would go a long way in driving the roadmap to fruition.

Abisola Olusanya, Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture and Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Agriculture

She said investment in the transformation of agriculture to agribusiness was one way of achieving the dream of attaining self-sufficiency in food production.

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”With thousands of hours spent by statisticians, agriculture experts, investment bankers and practitioners, this strategic document was brought to live to help chart the way forward to a food sufficient Lagos.

”I dream of a Lagos that is socially inclusive; where the informal sector becomes transformed into data driven clusters and then contribute toward the development of this great state,” she said

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