Lagos State government has restated its commitment to scale up efforts towards empowering more farmers in the state.
The government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems, said it is important to collaborate with genuine stakeholders in the Agric ecosystem to improve the lives of farmers across the value chain and to ensure food sufficiency in Lagos and Nigeria.
Speaking at the awareness walk that formed part of activities to celebrate 2026 World Food Day, Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture and Food Systems, Oluwarotimi Fashola, said that food security is a social security and all efforts must be harnessed to protect the agriculture space.
“When you talk about food security, there are no two ways to it; everyone must be involved, because any society that is food secure will be more secure. But more and beyond that, is the fact that the theme for this year, ‘innovation today, nourish tomorrow,’ pointed to how important it is to prepare ourselves for tomorrow,” he said.
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On the significance of the awareness walk to the residents of Lagos State, Fashola said that the initiative is to promote a better understanding of food security, accompanied by consistent civic education.
According to him, “We need to continue to educate people, to create more awareness that everybody needs to do something, no matter how small. Do something today so that tomorrow will be better. Lagos owns farm lots and settlements that we are giving out to different farmers for production. But apart from that, even planting in buckets, planting in bags, planting in tires, all these are things we can do in our home. It’s not when you get to a big land. No, you can do a very small thing.”
The Special Adviser maintained that the state government has in the past years put measures in place for farmers to thrive and ensure food sufficiency, stressing that it would continue to engage more farmers and activate implementable agriculture-based ideas in the coming years.
He, however, emphasised that most of the initiatives of the government have impacted positively on both old and young farmers, thereby increasing the influx of more people into the Agriculture space.
He said, “There are more people, more youngsters, more educated people that are going into one form of agriculture or the other, and our markets are developing. We have the hope that we are increasing the number every year, every day, every time.”
Some of the farmers at the event called for a more holistic approach to farming while seeking seamless access to funding, among other support from the government.
