…signs MoU on Lagos Offtake Guarantee Fund
The governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun said that his administration has put in place measures that would promote agriculture and ensure food security for the state and the nation at large.
Abiodun stated this at the launch of the N500 billion Produce for Lagos, an Offtake Guarantee Fund, an agricultural initiative, held at the Lagos House, Ikeja.
One of the measures, the governor noted is the creation of the State Farmers’ Information Management System, where information about the number, location, what they produce, and the size of their farms can be easily accessed at the press of a button.
He added that the system has given his administration the edge to know what each farmer in the state grows, saying that the system has continuously helped the state to scientifically provide inputs and fertilizers for farmers, thereby helping the state to become one of the few states with the lowest food inflation in the country.
Abiodun, along with the host Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, the Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, Dr. Agbu Kefas of Taraba, and the Governor of Kogi State, Mr. Ahmed Ododo, in a discussion segment, highlighted ways their individual states would contribute to the success of the Lagos Produce programme to the benefit of not only Lagos State but the nation as a whole.
He emphasized the need for the Federal Government to initiate similar programmes, which he believed would go a long way to guarantee funds for the growth and development of agriculture in the country.
On the causes of the present high cost of food in the country, the Ogun State helmsman maintained that apart from wastage from farm to market routes, the middlemen syndrome, where food items from Ogun State or Oyo State are tied down at Kara or Ogere by the middlemen waiting for scarcity before releasing the food to the market, making extra profit, also plays a major role.
The governors later signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Lagos Offtake Guarantee Fund.
