Ahead of World Food Day, the Lagos State government, Southwestern, Nigeria, has assured citizens that it is considering an appropriate storage system for market women in order to reduce their losses.
The State mentioned that adequate attention is accorded to the issue of food wastage, which is one of the reasons for the rise in the cost of food items in the county.
The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Bisola Olusanya was speaking at the media briefing in Alausa to kick off the year 2023 World Food Day, which holds every 16th of October.
At the moment, the food inflation rate in Nigeria is put at 31.5% and adversely affects the purchasing power of the people.
This Olusanya said called for deliberate solutions to address those challenges confronting access to food and food security, including poverty and hunger.
She said that since the high volume of what is consumed in the state is imported, it became imperative for the government to ensure proper hygiene to safeguarding the lives of the citizens.
Speaking to the theme of this year’s celebration which is “Water is life water is food, leaves no one behind” the commissioner explained that the challenges of crisis around the world had adversely affected availability of food and there was the need to raise more awareness on managing water effectively due to the advent of climate change.
Ms Bisola Olusanya noted that the state is currently revolutionising farming practice by enriching the lives of farmers’ communities to fortify food production and distribution in lines with the T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu
She said, “In maximising the potentials of the water deposit in the state, the state is collaborating with Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to harness the sea foods potentials of the state.
With the availability of the right license and equipment, the state will improve on this and get it right. Discussions are ongoing with the private sector in this regard.
“The state government is also collaborating with other ministries in ensuring that Lagos do not succumb to the forces of climate change, which also affects food production and distribution.”
On his part, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Dr Oluwarotimi Fashola said that the Lagos Rice Mill Imota played a significant role in the recent distribution of palliatives to the residents and that government had since commenced the sale of the rice in June this year with the help of distributors who have keyed into this initiative and are now selling to the people.
Shakirat Sadiq
