The Lagos State Government has said it is strongly committed to enhancing the agricultural productivity of small and medium-scale farmers as well as improving value addition along the agricultural value chain. Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, stated this on Monday during the Federal Government/World Bank Eighth Implementation Support Mission visit to Lagos State held at Agege in Lagos.
Speaking, she said: “The implementation of Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) project in Lagos State through capacity building and technology adoption support to farmers has positively increased productivity of rice paddy in the state from 1.5mt to 2.5 mt / ha and 2.0 -3.56 mt/ ha for ofada and FARRO 44 respectively, catfish productivity has increased from 100 kg/ m3 to 151.3 kg / m3, and in poultry, broiler has increased from 1.8 kg/ bird per cycle to 2.5 kg/ bird.
“The processed output and sales of products follow the same trend such that the aquaculture farmers supported by APPEALS project have produced 307.948 mt of fresh tilapia and are expanding day by day.
By virtue of our abundant water resources with as much as 20 per cent of the state made up of water, we are a natural hub for aquaculture. “APPEALS project has continued to promote productivity enhancement technologies and promotion of value addition through demonstration of improved technologies.
These have directly been delivered on the Project Development Objective. Most of these technologies were confirmed through administrative data, though an output survey is in the process of being rolled out to confirm the figures.
“I must say that the inclusion of the Women and Youth Empowerment Programme in the design of this project is a novel idea because agriculture offers our people, especially our youths, an opportunity to make a difference, especially through effective deployment of technology in the sector, for improved productivity and the attainment of food security, safety goals, and job creation agenda.
I am a strong believer that increased involvement of young Nigerians in agriculture will help tackle various longstanding challenges facing the sector.” On his part, the National Project Coordinator of APPEALS, Mohammed Jobdi, commended the Lagos State Government for its top-notch performance in APPEALS’ project implementation, informing that the visit was to give stakeholders the opportunity to rub minds regarding the challenges and constraints being faced for greater outputs.