The Lagos State government has inaugurated two agro-processing centers in Ikorodu Local Government Area as part of its efforts to enhance food security and create jobs in the state. The centers, which include a Cottage Broiler Processing Centre and an Egg Aggregation Centre, were facilitated by the Lagos Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) Project, a World Bank-assisted initiative.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, who performed the inauguration on Friday, said the centers were a testament to the commitment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration to food security in Lagos state. She said the centers would improve the productivity and value addition of farmers in poultry, aquaculture, and rice value chains, which are the priority sectors of the Lagos APPEALS Project.

Olusanya said the state government’s support for the indigenous agricultural food chain and the farming community was necessary to ensure the food demands of Lagos State are met. She said the state had a population of over 22 million people and a daily consumption of food worth over N8 billion, which made it imperative to boost local food production and reduce dependence on imports.

She also highlighted the impact of the Lagos APPEALS Project in the state, stating that thousands of farmers had benefitted from the project through capacity building, provision of inputs, equipment, and infrastructure. She said the project had also supported women and youth empowerment, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and social and environmental safeguards.

She further revealed that the state government would collaborate more with farmers across different sectors, value chains, and clusters to address the needs of Lagosians and provide substantial support to local farmers. She said the government focused on establishing the right food system and market infrastructure to empower farmers to create the right commodities for exchange and address price fluctuations and fixation.

The Lagos State Coordinator of the APPEALS Project, Mrs. Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo, said the two agro-processing centers established in Ikorodu were provided for farmers based on needs assessment to improve their productivity. She said the broiler processing center had a capacity of processing 1,000 birds per day, while the egg aggregation center had a capacity of storing 100 crates of eggs per day.

She said the centers would also serve as hubs for training, extension services, market linkages, and quality assurance for farmers in Ikorodu and its environs. She said the project had also provided other facilities such as cold rooms, blast freezers, canning machines, solar panels, boreholes, and generators for the centers.

Some of the project’s beneficiaries expressed their appreciation to the state government and the APPEALS Project for their support and intervention. They said the project had improved their livelihoods, increased their income, and reduced their losses. They also called for an extension of the project so more people could benefit from it.

The Lagos APPEALS Project is one of the six projects being implemented in six states of Cross River, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, and Lagos, with support from the World Bank. The project aims to enhance the agricultural productivity of small and medium-scale farmers and improve value addition along priority value chains in Nigeria.

Source: Nairametrics