Says over 70% of food consumed in Lagos produced outside its borders

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday, commissioned a mid-level agro-produce hub in Agege, as part of efforts to boost food security in the state, stating that his administration places food security at the heart of his development agenda, especially that it recognises that the prosperity of the state is inseparable from the strength and efficiency of its food system.

Sanwo-Olu, while speaking at the commissioning programme, said that his administration began to rethink the food system of the state in 2021, and the decision was guided by a simple but fundamental reality

He said: “Feeding Lagos is not a production challenge alone. It demands the transformation of the entire food system. Lagos is Nigeria’s largest food market and one of Africa’s fastest-growing urban centres.

“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.

“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.

The governor stated that hubs shorten supply chains, reduce unnecessary layers of intermediation, improve produce handling, and make food distribution more efficient.

“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,” he added.

Sanwo-Olu 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.

He said that the creation of a network of mid-level agro-produce hubs, beginning with the Fresh Food Hub in Mushin, commissioned in December 2023, and the Fresh Food Hub in 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.