Sanwo-Olu advocates family farming to boost food production
• Says agriculture critical to fighting poverty
• ‘Collaboration among stakeholders key to effective disaster management’
• Group urges gov to reverse Lake rice price
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has advocated active family participation in farming for food security in Nigeria.
The governor, who spoke at the 2019 World Food Day in Lagos, yesterday, said: “we have to imbibe the lessons learned from the dwindling returns from oil to encourage family participation in farming so that most of our basic needs could be met locally and we would be independent of others to feed ourselves.”
Sanwo-Olu, represented by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mrs. Folasahde Jaji, added that the only way to effectively fight poverty and hunger in the country is to boost agricultural production and prevent post-harvest losses and wastage, which constitute a major threat to the achievement of food security objectives.
According to him, the use of Reusable Plastic Crates (RPC) as an alternative to raffia baskets for the carriage of perishable farm produce is being promoted as a strategy to minimise wastages. ‘I enjoin farmers and traders in the state to embrace this new initiative for improved profit.’
Besides, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal, said the Ministry of Agriculture had instituted and encouraged the cultivation of crops under irrigation farming and the use of Greenhouse gasses to manipulate the various challenges posed by the change in climatic conditions as a result of global warming.
In another development, the Lagos State Government has said that collaboration among all stakeholders and intelligent sharing of information is key to efficient and effective disaster/emergency management in the state.
General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, who stated this at the 2019 World Disaster Reduction Day, noted that the world is not a very safe place to live in recent days as disaster might strike in the form of natural calamities, terrorists’ attacks and accidents at any moment.
He, therefore, reiterated the need for synergy among all first responders in Lagos State, which include Lagos State Building Control Agency, Fire Services, RRS, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs and other secondary responders.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) has appealed to Sanwo-Olu to reverse the price of Lake rice to alleviate hunger in the country.
President of MSSN, Lagos, Dr. Saheed Ashafa, said this yesterday in commemoration of the 2019 World Food Day.
