{"id":22044,"date":"2026-05-15T12:45:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T12:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/?p=22044"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:01:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T15:01:47","slug":"agric-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/2026\/05\/15\/agric-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lagos Agriculture Ministry Targets Food Security Revolution as Sanwo-Olu Unveils \u20a6500bn Offtake Fund, Africa\u2019s Largest Food Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems has unveiled ambitious plans aimed at transforming Lagos into Africa\u2019s leading food systems hub, with major investments in food infrastructure, youth empowerment, market access, aquaculture, and agricultural financing.<\/p>\n

Speaking during the 2026 Ministerial Press Briefing held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Abisola Olusanya, said the administration of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu is moving beyond traditional farming to build a comprehensive and technology driven food economy.<\/p>\n

Olusanya disclosed that the state government has launched a \u20a6500 billion Offtake Guarantee Fund under the \u201cProduce for Lagos\u201d initiative to stabilize food supply, reduce market uncertainty for farmers, and attract private sector investment into agriculture.<\/p>\n

According to her, the initiative is designed to organise food production, aggregation, logistics, storage, processing, financing, and distribution around Lagos\u2019 growing food demand.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt the centre of this initiative is the \u20a6500 billion Offtake Guarantee Fund designed to de-risk agricultural investment and assure farmers, producers, processors, aggregators, and investors of a structured market for their products,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The commissioner also announced that the first phase of the Lagos Central Food Systems and Logistics Hub in Epe, described as the largest food logistics hub in Sub Saharan Africa upon completion, would be commissioned later this year.<\/p>\n

She explained that the facility is designed to service over 1,500 trucks daily and support the storage, processing, and distribution of more than 1.5 million metric tonnes of food annually.<\/p>\n

Olusanya said the project would significantly reduce post harvest losses, improve food safety, lower logistics costs, and create thousands of jobs across the agricultural value chain.<\/p>\n

On rice production, she noted that the Lagos Rice Mill, regarded as the largest rice mill in Africa and the third largest globally, produced over 500,000 bags of Eko Rice within the review period.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

She added that the state had cultivated hundreds of hectares of rice fields across Eggua, Agonrin, and Ganyingbo to support local paddy production and improve food sufficiency.<\/p>\n

The commissioner further revealed that more than 125,000 farmers, fisherfolk, processors, agribusiness owners, and market operators have now been trained by the ministry under various agricultural empowerment initiatives.<\/p>\n

She said over 1,500 youths benefited from the Lagos Agripreneurship Program, where participants received intensive training, mentorship, and agricultural production assets to establish commercial ventures.<\/p>\n

Olusanya also highlighted the success of the Lagos Agric Scholars Program, which attracted applications from 442 schools across the state, with selected schools receiving training, agricultural inputs, and greenhouse support for vegetable production.<\/p>\n

As part of efforts to modernize the red meat value chain, she disclosed that the Lagos State Butchers Academy had trained youths in hygienic meat processing and modern butchery operations at the mechanized abattoir in Agege.<\/p>\n

According to her, Governor Sanwo-Olu has approved the training of an additional 40 youths and the provision of 10 new meat shops to expand the initiative.<\/p>\n

The commissioner stated that Lagos is also investing heavily in aquaculture through the Lagos Aquaculture Centre of Excellence, which is expected to produce 50 million fingerlings annually, alongside fish processing and feed production facilities.<\/p>\n

She said construction work had already commenced on the project, which is expected to become operational before the end of the current administration.<\/p>\n

Olusanya noted that the ministry, through various support schemes, had empowered more than 66,000 additional agribusiness beneficiaries between 2025 and 2026 through grants, subsidized farm inputs, training, and technical advisory services.<\/p>\n

She said the government had also strengthened coconut production through the Lagos State Coconut Development Authority, while agricultural extension services were being expanded through radio programs on Traffic Radio and Eko FM.<\/p>\n

On food culture and tourism, the commissioner said the 2025 Lagos Food Festival attracted over 13,000 participants and recorded food transactions exceeding \u20a6150 million.<\/p>\n

She added that the Eko Flavours culinary competition also produced several young food entrepreneurs, with participants receiving seed capital and mentorship support.<\/p>\n

Olusanya called on private investors, financial institutions, development partners, logistics companies, and agritech operators to take advantage of emerging opportunities within Lagos\u2019 rapidly expanding food economy.<\/p>\n

She maintained that the state government remains committed to building a resilient food system where food is available, affordable, safe, and accessible to residents while creating jobs and strengthening economic growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not implementing isolated agricultural projects. We are building a complete food systems architecture for Lagos State,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, said the ministry has placed the state on a strong pedestal in the area of agriculture and food systems development.<\/p>\n

He further stated that the ministry has been strategic in planning for the future of Lagos despite the state\u2019s limited land availability for agricultural purposes, noting that food produce is regularly transported into Lagos from other parts of the country because of its large and ready market.<\/p>\n

Omotoso also appreciated the media for its extensive coverage and representation of the activities of commissioners and heads of ministries since the commencement of the annual Ministerial Press Briefing.<\/p>\n

In his vote of thanks, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Emmanuel Audu, commended members of staff for their unwavering support and assured residents of improved performance in the coming year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems has unveiled ambitious plans aimed at transforming Lagos into Africa\u2019s leading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22044"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22048,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22044\/revisions\/22048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}