…Commissions mid-level agro-produce hub in Agege

 

DESPITE being Nigeria’s largest food market, over 70 per cent of food consumed by Lagos State residents is produced outside its borders.

 

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who disclosed this on Wednesday, at the commissioning of the Mid-Level Agro-Produce Hub, Pen Cinema, Agege, said over 125,800 farmers and fishermen have been trained in modern agricultural practices to tackle the deficit.

 

He said: “With a population of over 25 million people, our demand for food is enormous and grows every day. Yet over 70 per cent of that food is produced outside our borders. It travels long distances through fragmented supply chains before reaching our markets, exposing our residents to high transportation costs, post-harvest losses, poor storage, supply disruptions, and price volatility.

 

“The Lagos Agric Scholars Programme is deepening interest in agriculture among students in over 440 secondary schools across the State. The Lagos State Butchers Academy is training a new generation of butchers in hygienic, modern meat processing, restoring pride to a long-undervalued profession. And the Lagos Rice Mill at Imota—the largest in Africa—produced over 250,000 50kg bags of Eko Rice in the past year, including the newly launched Eko Fortified Rice, enriched with vitamins and minerals to combat malnutrition, especially among our children.”

 

The Governor noted that the commissioning of the hub in Agege is not simply the unveiling of another piece of infrastructure, but the physical expression of a larger vision, one that places food security at the heart of the state’s development agenda, and recognises that the prosperity of Lagos is inseparable from the strength and efficiency of its food system.

 

“When our Administration began to rethink the food system of Lagos in 2021, we were guided by a simple but fundamental reality: feeding Lagos is not a production challenge alone. It demands the transformation of the entire food system.

 

“We therefore understood that producing more food is not enough. We had to transform the entire chain, from production through aggregation, logistics, and processing, to the markets themselves. That understanding gave birth to the Lagos State Food Systems Transformation Agenda: our comprehensive response to the challenge of feeding Lagos sustainably, affordably, efficiently, and safely.”

 

 

 

He noted that the creation of a network of Mid-Level Agro-Produce Hubs, beginning with the Fresh Food Hub, Mushin, commissioned in December 2023, and the Fresh Food Hub, Abijo, commissioned by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, earlier this year, has shorten supply chains, reduce unnecessary layers of intermediation, improve produce handling, and make food distribution more efficient.

 

“The results speak for themselves. Since its commissioning, the Fresh Food Hub, Mushin, has recorded transactions valued at over N5b across 228 market days, with more than 850 registered vendors and over 7,000 direct and indirect jobs created.

 

“Well-designed market infrastructure does far more than provide a place to sell food: it improves farmers’ incomes, reduces post-harvest losses, creates jobs, and strengthens local economies.

 

“Today, we proudly add Agege to that network. This Hub is strategically located to serve Agege and its neighbouring communities, while strengthening the wider food-distribution network across Lagos. It represents our commitment to bringing modern food infrastructure closer to the people, to the communities where Lagosians buy, sell, and consume food every day. To the traders, farmers, and aggregators who will work here: this facility was built for you, and its success now rests in your hands.”

 

He noted that supporting this infrastructure is the Produce for Lagos Programme, launched in July 2025 alongside the N500b Offtake Guarantee Fund, adding that the produce for Lagos initiative represents a fundamental shift from a supply-driven to a demand-driven agricultural model.

 

“Rather than producing without certainty about where their output will be sold, farmers, within Lagos and across our partner states, now produce against the organised, guaranteed demand of the Lagos market. This addresses the two critical challenges farmers face: financing and market access. It reduces distress sales, improves incomes, and encourages greater investment in agricultural production.”