By Lucy Osuizigbo
Lagos – The Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday said that it was producing 8,750 tonnes of fish and 60 million eggs from its fish and poultry farms annually.
Dr Olayiwola Onasanya, Permanent Secretary in the ministry, gave the figures in Lagos at the launch of Feed The Future Partnering Innovation, by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Nigeria.
Onasanya, represented by Mrs Olatokunbo Emokpae, said that the production was facilitated through increased public and private sector investments.
He said that the goal of the ministry was to enable the state to achieve food security and scale up its food self-sufficiency from the present 15 per cent to 25 per cent by 2018.
”Demand for food and other agricultural produce is enormous in Lagos State with a population of over 22 million.
”Most of the foods consumed by residents are sourced from outside the state.
“Efforts of the ministry have been geared in the areas of livestock, fishery, rice and vegetable production, where the state has comparative and competitive advantage,’’ he said.
Onasanya said that government had implemented initiatives such as the Agricultural Estate Development to achieve consistent food production.
”We have a fish farm estate at Ikorodu with over 199 investors, and we produce 8,750 tonnes of fish per annum.
”We also have a poultry estate with about 108 investors, and we produce over 60 million eggs per annum. We also have the vegetation and piggery estates, too.
”This initiatives were aimed at increasing food production, job creation and sustenance of livelihoods in rural areas through a shift from subsistence farming to commercialisation,” he said.
