Gilbert Ekugbe
The Lagos State Government has announced its partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) that would drive Nigeria’s coconut value chain.
Lagos State is the leader in coconut production and is responsible for about 70 per cent of national output.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, at a live television broadcast, stated that the move is in line with the state’s five-year agric roadmap (2021-2025) that is meant to ensure food security and sufficiency.
According to her, the FAO is very heavy on technical expertise, capacity building and support.
Olusanya pointed out that coconut could be a major Gross Domestic Product (GDP) revenue enhancer for Lagos State and the entire country.
She said: “If you look at countries like Malaysia and India, coconut is actually one crop that gives them a lot of money. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, we do not give it the attention it deserves on the continent. When it comes to anything related to agriculture, particularly in Lagos, we tend to look at it as something for the illiterates, but agriculture is actually the backbone of most of the first world countries in the world.
“Technical and capacity building is vital to address most of the risks associated with agriculture investments and this is where the partnership with FAO comes in and that is what they are actually helping us with the coconut belt.”
She stated that Lagos has 183 kilometres coastline that is supposed to be covered with coconuts, but has been hampered due to massive erosion and climate change.
“We have continued to see a decline in cocoa production and that is why we see lots of import coming from neighbouring countries. But with the FAO ensuring that the requirements to develop the coconut value chain and the coconut belt are properly in place, they have been able to help us with assessment and dovetailed into our five year road map to do a proper dissection in terms of the investment required and attracting investors into the space,” she stressed.
The commissioner also stated that the critical role of the private sector in agriculture development. She said that the state is aggressively pushing for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) that would drive the agriculture value chain in the state.
