The Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, according to a statement on Thursday, said to scale up the agro-food sector, stakeholders must work together and protect the interest of farmers.
Olusanya, who spoke at a three-day Nigeria AgroFood/PlastPrintPack Exhibition and Conference, also called for a concerted effort to discourage the current practice where stakeholders work in isolation. She said, “I say this, particularly for the agro-food sector. The biggest challenge we have is our market. We have a lot of farmers and they make up over 70 per cent of the sector but we must work together to give them access to the market.“You may recall that last year, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, flagged off the construction of the largest Food Security Systems and Central Logistics Park in sub-Saharan Africa being built on 1.
“Transactions on food items in Lagos are estimated to be N5tn yearly, just as farmers daily lose 40 per cent of produce worth millions due to lack of post-harvest storage system. “So, the whole idea of the project is to guarantee greater returns for farmers and investors in the agro-allied sector, as the facility would cut out several layers of middlemen and facilitate improved access to modern processing and packaging services,” Olusanya said.All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.