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1,252 farmers get Lagos Agric Value Empowerment Support

By Gbenga Akinfenwa
13 January 2019   |   3:09 am
The Lagos State government has supported a total of 1,252 farmers in various farming enterprise, to boost their productive capacities in line with the state’s food security objective. The Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode who disclosed this during the flag-off ceremony of the 2018 Agricultural Value Chain Empowerment Programme, said the initiative is aimed at reducing…

[FILE PHOTO] Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the Governor of Lagos State.<br />Photo: Twitter/ AkinwunmiAmbode

The Lagos State government has supported a total of 1,252 farmers in various farming enterprise, to boost their productive capacities in line with the state’s food security objective.

The Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode who disclosed this during the flag-off ceremony of the 2018 Agricultural Value Chain Empowerment Programme, said the initiative is aimed at reducing poverty in the state.

Represented by Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Oluwatoyin Suarau, the governor stated that the programme is a strategic approach employed by the state to enhance productivity and improve standard of living of smallholder farmers, fishermen, agro processors and marketers through the provision of inputs, productive assets and capacity building, to ensure steady supply of food. 

He noted that food security became a major challenge as a result of the drastic decline in oil revenue, stressing that it has now become imperative to conserve foreign exchange by reviving the agricultural sector through policies and programmes that will encourage more people to go into farming and increase food production.
 
Ambode added that the state as a matter of policy has ensured that basic infrastructural facilities are evenly distributed, especially in rural communities despite the fact that most farming activities are based in the rural and semi urban areas.
 
“Our objective is to make our communities livable and centres of economic activities. This strategy we believe, will reverse the trend of rural to urban migration and also make farming more attractive, especially to young people,” he said.

He added that the state has procured a-32 metric tons per hour rice mill to sustain the production and processing of local rice in the State, which will create over 500,000 jobs in form of manpower to operate the mill directly.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olayiwole Onasanya explained that the state through the various farming enterprises, which include; egg marketers, piggery, butchery, poultry production, vegetable production, perishable produce trading, sheep and goat production, aquaculture, fish feed input, artisanal fisheries and fish processing is working towards food sufficiency.
 
Said he: “This administration has made food security one of its cardinal programmes, which serves as tool to poverty alleviation and sustainable economic growth through agricultural development to underscore fiscal responsibility.”

  
 

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