Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Oluwatoyin Suarau (right), with Permanent Secretary, Kebbi State Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Nababa Adamu (left), signing a Memorandum of Understanding on the Development of Commodity Value Chains between the two states while Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (right behind) and Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu (left behind) watch, at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.

Lagos State consumes N135 billion worth of rice and 2.19 million herds of cattle annually, says Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

The governor who disclosed this on at the State House, Ikeja, Lagos, southwest Nigeria on the occasion of the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between Lagos and Kebbi State on the development of Commodity Value Chains, said the future of Lagos State was partly tied to deliberate resolution on food security.

He said food production and self-sufficiency required its immediate attention at policy and strategic levels to sustain the state, adding that Lagos State is the largest consumer of food commodities in Nigeria by virtue of its population.

“We have the market, with the required purchasing power also. Lagos State has an estimated consumption of over 798,000 metric tonnes of milled rice per year which is equivalent to 15.96 million of 50kg bags, with a value of N135 billion per annum.
“We have the economic prowess to produce rice locally. The era of imported rice is gone. The reality is for all of us to embrace the consumption of local foodstuff and commodities. In addition to rice, Lagos is currently consuming 6,000 herds of cattle daily which may increase to 8,000 in the next five years,” he said.

According to Ambode, the bulk of the vegetables produced in the country end up in the Lagos markets as the state is one of the largest producers of poultry and thus had a large demand for maize for livestock feed production.

“The state also houses most of the industrial users of wheat and sorghum; mostly flour mills, bakeries, breweries and food manufacturers. Kebbi State, on the other hand, is blessed with a vast arable land suitable for the cultivation of rice, wheat, groundnut, maize, sorghum and sugar cane.

“It is an agrarian State with over 1.2 million hectares of arable land characterised by very large floodplains, lowland swamps and gentle slopes. In the 2014/2015 wet season, over 600,000 hectares of land was deployed for rice cultivation in the three senatorial areas of the state.

“The people are traditionally rice farmers with average land holding of about 10 hectares. currently, Kebbi has over 50,000 metric tonnes of paddy in store produced from the last two planting seasons,” he said.

The governor said with these considerations in mind, Lagos and Kebbi States had decided to collaborate and exploit areas of comparative advantage to create value for both states, saying that this alliance would ensure food security, job creation, increase in farmers’ income and the overall improvement in the living conditions of the residents of both states through wealth creation and poverty reduction.
He added that the collaboration was in line with the clarion call and policy direction given by the President, Muhammadu Buhari, on the need “to feed ourselves.”

Mprepz:
is he trying to support those abbokkis

iyb:

ehen hatred will kill you ewu

A7:
N2.19m cattle? There must be an error, one cow can cost 200k plus.

bettercreature:
Lagosians are actually consuming atleast over 15 million naira worth of cows every day,this man is clueless and in some places they are killing like 20-30 cows every day

There was one day they killed 10 cows in my presence,that is 1.5million naira in just one abbatoir and lagos has like 10

KINGTELLER:
For where be dat, Oga no lie on us oooo

bettercreature:
Lagosians are actually consuming atleast over 15 million naira worth of cows every day,this man is clueless and in some places they are killing like 20-30 cows every day

There was one day they killed 10 cows in my presence,that is 1.5million naira in just one abbatoir and lagos has like 10

anonimi:
HOW exactly did Ambode get this statistics or he just pulled it out of his fat brain ni
How many STATISTICIANS are employed by LASG for such reliable data to be generated?