Lagos State government has again urged residents to develop the idea of urban farming that will give credence to ‘eat what we grow’ mentality towards a secured food system in the State and Nigeria as a whole.
The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Ms Abisola Olusanya state this during a sensitisation walk with stakeholders ahead of this year’s World Food Day slated to hold on October 16, 2024 at the Police College Ikeja, Lagos.
Olusanya maintained that the essence of the walk was to appreciate the stakeholders and continue to give support when necessary, stressing that imbibing the culture of farming will not only empower the farmers but will also provide the path for other value chains to evolve, thereby growing the economy.
She noted that the idea of relying on foreign products will not help the nation’s economy as emphasis must be on growing and buying home grown products.
Truly, we need to grow what we eat and aside from that, we need to start celebrating our farmers, our food actors, our market men and women. And this year, it is important for us to go in this direction to sensitise the general public about the need to take responsibility for growing what they eat.
It is a collective effort and not something to be left to some farmers in some specific geographical location. We are all a part of the food system and as such, we must get to work and start to grow what we need to eat.
“Aside from that, it is an opportunity to celebrate our stakeholders from farmers to aggregators to logistics providers. Infact we have some Eko’ Flavour Chefs here with us, just to show you that even the young culiinary skilled are all part of this and they are all happy to see people come together, collaborate and make great things happen in the food space.” she said.
Olusanya mentioned that farming business is for everyone and not to be left for those uneducated as perceived by some Nigerians.
According to her “This trade is not for the illiterate, it is not for the downtrodden, it is for each and everyone of us. If you travel abroad, you will see multi billionaires in farming, they are all in the food space, so here in Nigeria, we need to start to change that narrative that indeed everyone of us is part of the game. Therefore let us start to give farmers, market men and women their places in society and together we will take Nigeria to a greater height.”
She appreciated the sponsors and partners who made the road walk a reality, saying that the synergy with stakeholders has enabled the crowd witnessed at this year’s walk, which showed power of collaboration.
“Without these sponsors we wouldn’t have been able to do this walk this way this year.” she added.
Some of the partners at the event such as Origin Group, Olam Agri, British American Tobacco, Nigeria Foundation, ProvidusBank, among others applauded the initiative of the state government to ensure food sufficiency with numerous programmes and ideas that is expected to increase agricultural surplus in the State.
Oyenike Oyeniyi
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