Lagos State is set to boost the country’s poultry and aquaculture production as 350 agripreneurs graduated from the State’s Agro-Processing Productivity Enhancement And Livelihood Support (APPEALS) project.
The agripreneurs are the first batch of the targeted 1,620 beneficiaries of the Lagos APPEALS project of the Women and Youth Empowerment Programme (WYEP) that will be trained in poultry, aquaculture and rice value chain as well as supported with technical assistance and grants.
Gbolahan Lawal, Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture said the graduation of batch 1 of the WYEP signalled the beginning of a new concept to the APPEALS project implementation.
“Today, I present to you 350 beneficiaries; 165 in Poultry value chain, 35 in Rice value chain and 150 in Aquaculture value chain as batch 1 of the APPEALS project empowerment programme,” Lawal said in a statement.
He said the main thrust of APPEALS project was to increase productivity, production, improve processing and marketing of the target value chains, which would foster job creation along identified value chains.
He said that one of the primary objectives of the APPEALS project was employment generation, which, according to him, is in tandem with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s vision of employing the teeming youth of the state in line with the administration’s THEMES agenda.
The commissioner said the government has been working to ensure employment generation and food security.
He urged the beneficiaries to open up their minds as agripreneurs and make the best use of the opportunities provided to ensure that the aim of the programme is achieved.
Also speaking during the graduation, Obafemi Hamzat, deputy governor of the state urged the beneficiaries of the APPEALS project to put their training and subsequent support from the project into productive agricultural use.
“Being here today as beneficiaries of APPEALS project WYEP is a major feat after being selected out of the over 7,000 applicants for the available 1,700 slots,” he said.
Hamzat advised the beneficiaries to access the grant element of the project by developing viable investment plans that will not just make them agriprenuers but also employers of labour.
The deputy governor who was represented by Adedoyin Adesanya, chairman of Epe Local Government said the APPEALS project was aimed at supporting farmers’ productivity.
He noted that the beneficiaries should avail themselves of the several opportunities and collaboration between the Federal and State governments as well as the World Bank offer to them by coming up with viable business plans to scale their businesses.
The deputy governor congratulated the beneficiaries of the first batch APPEALS project empowerment programme, describing their success at the selection stage as a great feat.
He also commended the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture for achieving the feat.
Also, Bisola Olusanya, special adviser for Agriculture, stated there was a deficit of 188metric tons for broilers, 6.7metric tons for eggs and 218metric tons for aquaculture respectively in the state.
Olusanya noted that agripreneurs that have been empowered with the training and grant support from APPEALS project would be able to bridge the gaps in the poultry and aquaculture value chain in the state.
In her speech, Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo, Lagos project coordinator, APPEALS project, sounded confident that the beneficiaries would soon become major contributors in the food production and supply chains in Lagos.
Sagoe-Oviebo said the beneficiaries have assured her that their business plans would be ready by next week, assuring that the project is not just going to impact in the lives of the 350 beneficiaries but will have a multiplier effect with lots of job creation and livelihood improvement.
The APPEALS project WYEP consists of provision of technical assistance in business planning, grants to finance sub-projects and mentorship for start-ups or consolidation of existing women and youth-led businesses as an individual or a group of beneficiaries.
The basic strategy of APPEALS project is to increase productivity, production and improve processing and marketing of the targeted value chains which are expected to foster job creation.
