The Executive Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has projected that the total investments in the agriculture sector in the State would run to $10B in the next five years with the formal launch of the State 5-year Agricultural development and Food Systems Roadmap .
Sanwo-Olu however added that most of the investments would be private sector-driven while the government would act as the catalyst and enabler.
He noted that the State could no longer afford to rely exclusively on other States for its food adding that it was time for the State to unlock its immeasurable agricultural potential through the implementation of the 5-year roadmap.
Governor Sanwo-Olu opined that the roadmap would also lead to wealth generation, value creation, food security, the industrialization of the agricultural sector and the entrenchment of inclusive socio-economic development of the State.
According to him, the Roadmap essentially focuses on three pillars which are the growth of the upstream sector, growth of the midstream and downstream sectors as well as improvement of the private sector participation.
“Our strategies for sustainable Agricultural Development shall focus on three pillars. Firstly, we will grow the upstream sector through interventions by leveraging technologies that are capable of lowering the cost of production of value chains such as Fisheries, Poultry, Piggery, Rice, Vegetables and Coconut with support from donor agencies.
The projection is that the total investment in the Agricultural Sector from the government, private sector, donor agencies and development partners will run into over $10Billion in the next five years. While we expect most of the investment to be private sector-driven, government will continue to provide the needed infrastructure while the private sector will be encouraged to lead the key projects,” Sanwo-Olu noted.
He assured that the State would formulate policies that would encourage private sector investment in agriculture while providing robust market information systems for Agricultural Value Chain actors for adequate planning and the circumvention of risks and uncertainties.
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