Lagos Buys Farmland in Osun, Plans Agric Business App

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

In order to meet the growing demand for food in the metropolis, the Lagos State government has acquired 84 hectares of land in Osogbo, Osun State. The farmland, according to the Commissioner for Agriculture in Lagos, Mr Gbolahan Lawal, would be used to cultivate various types of crops for consumption of residents of the aquatic city.

The Commissioner explained that with the acquisition, government would forestall the shortage of food as well as ensure food security for the ever-increasing population of the state which has limited land for agricultural purposes due to its coastal nature.

Speaking on the development, Mr Lawal said the Osogbo Farms would also serve as the aggregation center for the state government’s collaborative efforts with the DAWN States exporting produce to other states of the federation and foreign countries.

“Lagos State with a population in excess of 21 million people and a daily influx of people from diverse places has serious agricultural land constraints and being a coastal state, the availability of land for agriculture has been drastically reduced due to urbanisation,” Mr Lawal averred.

He explained that due to the envisaged increase in activities along the Epe-Lekki corridor on completion of the Free Trade Zone, the State government intends to build another abattoir within the axis to cater for the meat needs of residents along Lekki expressway.

He hinted of plans to put in place an Agric Business Application that would not only put a monetary value to everything done in the Ministry but would also support the agriculture platform by aggregating everything and everybody along the value chain in the State.

According to the Commissioner, the Agribusiness App is a viable strategy that would transform the agriculture sector by smoothening the way for both old and new as well as young farmer-entrants in an environment where start-ups can be nurtured and allowed to flourish.

“Some of the objectives of the App are that it will groom start up entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises and agrotech innovators, among others, in addition to promoting the establishment of agribusiness ventures through a vast pool of commercially viable agro-technology initiatives from the research and development institutes,” he said.