In commemoration 2019 World Food Day, experts in the agricultural sector have called for collective efforts and commitments to the realisation of healthy diets for Nigerians.
In a keynote address to mark the 2019 World Food Day in Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of the state said the annual celebration being spearheaded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is about raising awareness on issues related to food such as poverty and hunger and highlighting efforts being made by governments, institutions, organisations, and individuals to mitigate the negative effects on people.
“The theme for this year’s celebration, ‘Our actions Our Future: Healthy Diet for a Zero Hunger World’ speaks to the need for a collective action towards not only increasing food production but also ensuring that adequate attention is paid to the quality of food being consumed,” said Sanwo-Olu who was represented by Idris Salako, commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development.
He noted that the state is participating in the World Bank Assisted APPEALS Project which is aimed at enhancing the productivity of small and medium-scale farmers and improving value addition along priority value chains, which include the poultry, rice and aquaculture value chains.
According to the governor, the project will collaborate with AfricaRice for the development of Pure Ofada Rice strain as well as capacity building for seed out-growers and rice-based products.
Speaking also, Fatai Afolabi, technical committee, British American Tobacco Foundation (BATNF) said that the desire to help bridge the gap between farmers and their markets motivated the BATN Foundation to partner with Lagos State government to organise the fair.
Afolabi said that the BATN Foundation has always identified with smallholder farmers and will persist to do all it can to foster agric enterprise by encouraging a commercial mindset in subsistence farmers and supporting them to run their farms as sustainable agribusiness.
In the same vein, Abimbola Okoya, executive director, BATN Foundation, noted that through its partnership with the Lagos State government the foundation intends to use the fair to provide a platform to expose farmers to more opportunities as well as enable the public access fresh and organic farm produce.
“Since its inception in 2002, the Foundation has invested about N1.5 billion in supporting Federal and state governments as well as over 36,000 rural farmers in the production of crops like cassava, rice, and maize and aquaculture and livestock, with the hope of reaching a target of 62,000 farmers in 2022,” Okoya said.
In his address, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, commissioner for Agriculture said that the World Food Day is a platform to highlight the importance of food and the role being played by all stakeholders.
He noted that the efforts of government to ensure food security have resulted in a lot of innovations aimed at preventing food shortage in the state.
Chinyere Okeke
