The Lagos State Government is offering a N150m grant pool to support agricultural entrepreneurs, through the 2025 Agrithon competition.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Abisola Olusanya, who disclosed this during the official launch of the application portal for the Lagos Agrithon 2025 for youths in the state, said the imitative will enhance productivity, sustainability, and overall efficiency in agriculture.
The Lagos Agrithon, which started in 2024, is an agricultural hackathon that provides a unique platform for startups to pitch their groundbreaking solutions to get access to funding, potential investors, mentorship and enhanced visibility across the agricultural value chain in Nigeria.
Olusanya noted that the initiative was borne out of the need to address the challenges in agriculture sector with innovative ideas and pitches.
She said the portal for application of the Lagos Agrithon competition opened from June 2 to June 27 for all eligible agriprenuers.
“Lagos must act boldly – leveraging policy, partnerships, and innovation, to secure the future of food for its people, this is why Lagos Agrithon was born. Lagos Agrithon is more than a contest. It is a movement.
A platform for bold ideas, for youth-led innovation, and for scalable solutions that tackle the food challenges of today and anticipate those of tomorrow.
“This year, we are proud to announce our large grant pool of N150m, which will be awarded to at least 35 promising agrifood startups and teams across key value chains in the state’s food systems,” Olusanya said.
She reiterated that applicants must meet the necessary requirements to be considered for the application.
“Building on the success of last year, where we supported 26 youth-led agribusinesses with N100m, the 2025 edition expands the programme to include: virtual and physical pitch sessions, Mentorship hub to strengthen business models and sharpen execution.
“At the Grand Finale, the winners would be announced during the Lagos Agrinnovation Summit 2.0, our flagship platform for connecting agrifood innovators with investors, policymakers, and industry leaders.
“Youths between 18 to 40 years old with start-ups between zero to five years operating in the agriculture or food systems space, Lagos-based or creating measurable impact in Lagos are eligible to apply. They must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission and enrolled with LASSRA.
“The kind of ideas we are looking for are climate-smart and sustainable agriculture, food production and processing across the value chain, precision farming, agri-fintech, and digital innovation, post-harvest storage, logistics, and food traceability,” the commissioner said.
She added that interested participants must complete the online registration form and submit a pitch deck that clearly explains the problem they are solving, their solution, and the impact they hope to achieve.
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