Abisola Olusanya, Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, has commended the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) for its partnership with the Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority (LSADA) to support fish farmers in the state.
The commissioner, who was represented by Olamilekan Pereira-Sheteolu, project manager, LSADA, gave this commendation at a recently concluded two weeks capacity-building workshop on breeding, production, processing, and marketing of catfish in the state.
The annual project called ‘Fingerlings to Fork’ was organised by LSADA in partnership with the foundation. It is in its third cycle and has supported 600 smallholder fish farmers across all zones in the state while empowered three cooperatives with 250kg smoking kiln each.
Olusanya described the completion of the workshop as a huge achievement for LSADA and the state government while appreciating BATN for its involvement in the fish value chain.
Also, Hakeem Adeniji, permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture who was represented by Ayoade Abiola Olatokunbo, director of external services, said the collaboration has seen both parties working towards the goal of ensuring food security, agricultural sustainability, and women empowerment.
“Lagos produces only 20 percent of its food demand leaving 80 percent to be imported from other states. The government is making concerted efforts to boost food production from 20 percent to 40 percent,” he said.
“As an aquatic state, the state is particularly interested in the fish subsector as it generates income for artisanal fishermen and has potential for business opportunities. This includes breeding of fingerlings, and juveniles, processing, and packaging of fish for exports and input supply, among others,” he added.
Ololade Johnson-Agiri, project manager, BATNF, representing Dare Odusanya, general manager in his address, said that the partnership is intended to ensure that smallholder farmers transition from subsistence to commercial farming, adding that the foundation believes in the wealth-creating opportunities in agriculture and is committed to promoting sustainable agribusiness development amongst smallholder farmers.
A significant feature of this year’s workshop was the participation of persons living with disabilities most of whom are hard of hearing.
Some of the beneficiaries of the workshop who spoke with our correspondent expressed delight about the training and particularly the new knowledge they acquired on catfish drying and smoking. One of them, Cecilia Omoagbor, said that she was “glad to realize how economically viable catfish smoking is,” noting that, it is another stream of income in catfish farming, which is not time-consuming.
Another physically challenged beneficiary, Oluseyi Moses, a farmer from Agbado Okeodo LCDA, Lagos, promised to share the knowledge acquired with youth farmers in his community.
