• As FAO, UNIDO present report on coconut development
The Lagos State Government has promised to upgrade the development of the Coconut value chain in the state. The Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, who disclosed this while receiving report on coconut value chain analysis from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), said the report was aimed at ensuring coconut contributes maximally to the economy by creating more employment and more wealth.
The 300-page report seeks to generate coconut planting awareness to ensure its sufficiency in Nigeria, create more jobs while increasing the state’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
She said the implementation of coconut upgrading strategy as contained in the document would attract more than 20 times the present public and private investments.
“The creation of close to 500,000 employment opportunities and supporting their livelihood, contribute significantly to fighting the effects of climate change by curbing phenomenon such as coastal erosion among others in the next five years.”
While noting that the report policies and investment around the coconut value chain, Olusanya said from the report, it is clear that more than 60 to 70 per cent of the coconut consumed in Nigeria passes through Lagos as the state contributes 16 per cent to actual production.
The FAO-UN Country Representative to Nigeria, Mr. Fred Kafeero, who said the report would form the basis for investment in the coconut value chain by both public and private sector, added that it would also help to foster the upgrading strategy for the development of the proposal in the state.
Represented by Head, North East Emergency Operations, Mr. AlHassan Cisse, “The official presentation of the Coconut Value Chain Analysis report
today marks the beginning of a second phase partnership with Lagos state that will ensure sustainable food security, improved livelihood,economic development in terms of revenue generation, improving the standard of living and local economy of Lagos people through employment and wealth creation opportunities as well as the overall environmental impact in mitigating against climate change and global warming.
“This is such a big progress that we should all celebrate about since the main objective is to make the coconut value chain in the State more feasible and cost effective with assurance of optimum return of the government’s investment.” He commended the state government for promoting agriculture and specifically developing the coconut value chain to create employment opportunities for the teeming youth’s population, and in addition, make Nigeria among the
top 10 coconut producing countries in the world by 2030.
“Once again, I would like to reiterate that FAO as a specialied agency of the United Nations with the mandate to ensure food security and nutrition will continue to strengthening its partnership with the Lagos State Government in the development of programmes, building of capacities and facilitation of policies on all matters relating to food security and nutrition.”
In his remarks, the General Manager, Lagos State Coconut Development Authority (LASCODA), Mr. Dapo Olakulehin, who noted that the report would further help in the production, processing and commercialisation of coconut in the state, said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is highly interested in the coconut value chain.
He said a survey tagged Coconut Value Chain Analysis (VCA) designed an effective action plan that identified the necessary public and private investment, technical assistance, and policy implications for sustainable coconut chain development.
“The cost of the survey was jointly borne by the state government 75 per cent and FAO/UNIDO 25 per cent. FAO jointly implemented the coconut value chain analysis and design, with the UNIDO under the FAO-UNIDO jointly managed Agrifood Systems Transformation Accelerator (ASTA), previously known as 3ADI+,” he said.
