Lagos Stakeholders Seek Collaboration To Sustain Food Security

There must be a concerted effort to develop templates that will bring all critical actors in the Agricultural space together and work with government towards guaranteeing sustainability of food systems in Lagos and Nigeria.

 

This was the fulcrum of discussion at the Food Systems Champions Summit organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems as part of activities to mark the year 2024 World Food Day.

 

It was a gathering of all stakeholders, from input suppliers, producers, logistics providers, aggregators, market men and women, young Agripreneurs among others.

 

At the Mid-Level Agro Production Hub, Idi Oro Mushin, venue of the event, panelists moderated by a food security expert, Africanfarmer Mogaji had a thorough conversation on the challenges facing the sector and brought forth probable solutions that the government can navigate to ease out of the current economic challenges.

 

The panelists tagged the session

“Lagos Food Security” where they all agreed that Lagos remains the nation’s agricultural base that plays critical role in securing food systems, but needed the synergy between private investors and the government.

 

Involving Young Minds

 

One of the panelists, the General Manager Nutrition and Operations of Animal Care, Mr Adewale Adewoyin said to secure food system in Nigeria emphasis must be placed on induction of more younger minds to fill the gaps left by the old farmers while encouraging youths with incentives to thrive in the sector.

 

Adewoyin acknowledged that the state government was doing so much interventions to empower the farmers in the state, but most of the gestures seldomy get to the right spots, stressing the need for proper monitoring of the process and canvassed for government-private collaboration.

 

He said “We must engage the youths to participate actively in Agriculture and they must involve in the practical operation of the sector.

 

You cannot learn how to ride a bicycle by reading a book. It has to be practiced. Agriculture is the fire layer of food security followed by Agric business and it must be known that agriculture has it’s variability, seasonality and peculiarity that government must consider to proffering solutions to the challenges.

We must produce enough that can go round before we start talking to others”

 

Under-utilisation Sejiro Micheal of SejFarm identified under-utilisation of the nation’s resources as one of the impediments of achieving food security.

 

Micheal who affirmed that Nigeria is blessed with water bodies, potent soil, clement weather amongst others to produce enormously said that government must see Agriculture beyond business and more of humanity.

 

He wants government to co-opt youths who are desirous of engaging in Agriculture into the ecosystem and reach out to genuine farmers during empowerment and interventions.

 

Cheaper prices

 

On how to prevent high prices of food in the markets considering the varieties that are being brought into the state, the Chairman Mile-12 International market, Alhaji Usman Jubrin identified the issue of logistics as one of the challenges, saying the high transportation cost affect the prices of goods in the market while urging the government to address the issue of insecurity.

 

He suggest the engagement of University students into farming where government will provide lands and other incentives that can attract them into the system as well as provide storage facilities that can keep goods mopped up from farmers during glut.

 

According to him “If we want to address the issue of high price of goods, we must provide a platform where other markets are feeding directly from Mile 12, although it is currently in places like Lekki, Ikorodu among others and more of such markets will drop the price of the goods. And also if we want to further reduce the price of goods in the market, we must ensure we produce locally and we engage other states of the federation to close the gaps so as to prevent the recent scarcity witnessed in the availability of tomatoes at some point. And government must collaborate with farmers to plant tomatoes to target the off season period.”

 

Increasing Feedmill

 

Speaking on the increase in the price of feedmill which has affected the business of livestock in Lagos and across the country, Technical Director, Amo Farm, Mr Alabi Yinusa mentioned access to market and mopping up of proceeds from the farmers rom farmers during glut Yinusa said 50 percent of feedmill contents is maize and for livestock to be sustainable, maize is important, so government should prevent the idea of taking soya beans part of the ingredients abroad and ensure production of more quantities of the local ingredients to produce the feedmill.

 

He suggested an investment forum facilitated by the government where farmers can engage Investors, as this will help the farmers to network and grow their businesses thereby ensuring food surplus and its security will be guaranteed in the long run.

 

Other resolutions

 

The panelists acknowledge food security as a social problem which could be tackled through rigourous implementation of policies that will attract players in the sector to exhibit maximum cooperation to develop the space.

 

They called on government to create enabling environment, organise training capacity building for farmers, conduct research, activate financial support for farmers while farmers must also take responsibility in order to ensure other issues raised include extortions by the security officials, multiple illegal payments and unnecessary delays of trucks, proper collaboration between governnmet and the private sector.

 

Addressing Issues

 

In her response, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Ms. Abisola Olusanya said that most of the proffered as possible solutions by the stakeholders are currently being addressed by the government while seeking for more support to upscale the efforts aimed at ensuring food security in the state.

 

Olusanya who described the summit as a family meeting for the stakeholders explained that the administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu is committed to upholding standards particularly in the area of Agriculture and will walk through the road map to achieve desired results.

 

“And I am happy to hear a lot of feedbacks, positive ones, many of which we are already working on as a Ministry in Lagos but which need a lot inputs from these players in the sector and many are also clamouring for more stakeholders meetings and forums such as this. It only buttresses on what we do as a Ministry that engages our actors and stakeholders and as you can see, many people, things can be hard but because we have a platform and ecosystem of support, we know how to work around it.

 

“We are not taking a back seat and we will not relent in our continued support for our stakeholders, we will give them time and energy to ensure we create enabling environment than what we have done previously.”

 

She assured that the state will continue to work to the point where there is good and sustainable solutions that will benefit many people as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

Oyenike Oyeniyi