The Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, has urged traders in Lagos State to consider functionality when building their market and not just for the sake of capitalization, News About Nigeria reports.
The commissioner gave this call while speaking at a stakeholders’ forum with agro traders, tagged: “Lagos Food Systems’ Champions Sensitization for Market Women,” held at Lagos Food Hub, Idi-Oro, Mushin Local Government Area, during the weekend.
She noted that building for functionality gives people a sense of belonging and inclusivity, adding that it would also provide the private sector, individuals, and institutions that are interested the opportunity to follow and adopt the model to complement the government’s efforts.
She maintained that if individuals adopt the food hub model, it will boost food sufficiency in the state, thereby complementing state efforts.
Olusanya further noted that the intent of the government in setting up the hubs is to assist the government, as it cannot build in all 57 local governments.
She added that the idea is to have the pilot hub in the Mushin area of the state.
Recall that the Lagos State government launched the State Agricultural and Food System Roadmap 2021–2025 as an intervention to ensure food security for the teeming populace.
She also disclosed that the hub was established to prevent wastage, noting that nationally, the rate of waste is between 40 and 45 percent.
She stated that the government also has a fresh food fair coming up in Mushin Idioro and has begun operating a weekly market every Saturday of the month.
“The idea around the food fair is to utilise the time period for sensitisation of the market women to train them before they take over the entire space finally,” she said.
