The Lagos State government has expressed its commitment to the Lagos State Agro-Processing Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS), a World Bank intervention programme, saying that the essence of the project was to improve on productivity of farmers to increase food production in the state.
Lagos Deputy Governor
This commitment was made by the State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat after a close-door meeting of the State Steering Committee for Lagos APPEALS at his office in Alausa, Ikeja last Tuesday.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Hamzat, who heads the State Steering Committee, said Lagos State was passionate about the APPEALS project because it was about people and farmers in the state.
He said: “When you talk to farmers, they will tell you no farmer, no nation; so I say no farmer no humanity. The reality is that we need to encourage our farmers to do better than they are doing now in terms of rice production.
“Other parts of the world have gone far in rice production that they do eight tons per hectare and we cannot be doing two and be happy. The essence is to improve on their productivity and the understanding of the market so that farmers can live well and we also can have food to eat.
“Lagos eats or consumes 50 per cent rice in Nigeria. So it must form part of what we are interested in, that doesn’t mean that we can grow everything we need but we can assist even other states.
“Then poultry is also key; again poultry consumption is high in Lagos and then of course we have a lot of water for aquaculture.
“That is why we selected those three and various other states selected other three that they can do.
“So, basically, it is to help farmers to improve their productivity. We are getting just a strain of ofada rice; there are different varieties of ofada rice but when it comes to processing, it becomes difficult when it is in different strains. So, it is better to have one strain and then improve on the productivity.
“Right now, they do about two tonnes per hectare and we want to get it to four, five or six tones. So those are the types of support the project is supposed to do for a lot of people.
“Over 4,000 people have been identified and they have been trained. So, it is just to make sure now that we go to the real practical of it, which is actually to the work, which is what will happen this year.”
Also speaking, the State Project Coordinator (SPC) of Lagos APPEALS, Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo, said aquaculture, poultry and rice were the three value chain advantaged areas in terms of production in the state.
In her words, “APPEAL is the collaboration of Lagos State government with the World Bank and the Federal Government. But basically, aquaculture, poultry and rice are the three-value change that is advantaged areas in terms of production and the value chains in Lagos State.
For instance, Lagos is the centre of aquatic splendour and centre of excellence. We have a lot of water; we have a lot of farmers, fish farmers and we are looking at how we can actually support farmers even diversifying beyond catfish farming to tilapia.”
