The investment projections aimed at improved food production for a state whose population is estimated at 22 million people, with an annual growth rate of 3.2 percent.
Currently, less than 30 percent of food consumed in Lagos is produced within the state, meaning that it relies heavily on imports from other states and outside Nigerian.
The five-year investment projection in the sector is, therefore, also designed to bridge the huge import gaps, Gbolahan Lawal, the commissioner for agriculture, told BusinessDay on Wednesday.
Of the N43 billion, the state government will be targeting to invest N13 billion via annual budgetary allocations, while N22 billion will hopefully come as private capital, and N8 billion from donor agencies.
A document sighted by BusinessDay, which is being deliberated by stakeholders in public and private sectors, including banks and experts from the academia, shows the breakdown of the projected investment in key agricultural production.
According to the document prepared by the state ministry of agriculture, rice production is projected to take 38 percent of the investment, empowerment and capacity building 18 percent, red meat production 15 percent, coconut production 7 percent, vegetable production 7 percent, piggery 3 percent, among others.
The agriculture commissioner, Lawal, further informed BusinessDay that rice production was being given priority in the five-year agricultural roadmap because, apart from being an international commodity, it is being consumed in every home across Nigeria.
According to him, the policy document which the ministry was able to put together in less than 200 days of being in office by the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration, once approved by the State Executive Council, would guide investment decisions by the government and private investors in the state’s agro sector over the next five years.
Ruth Olusanya, special adviser to the state government on agriculture, said the partnership with the private sector was key in the quest for Lagos to achieve food security for its rising population.
“We hope that this ratified agriculture roadmap will unleash a chain of events that will lead to numerous interventions to eradicate the multitude of problems affecting productivity in the sector.
We are also hopeful that it will lead to improved productivity, profitability and sustainability of the commercial and the smallholder actors in the agricultural value chain,” said Olusanya at a workshop organised for stakeholders on Wednesday.
