Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has urged Lagosians to rev up the local production of food, stating that the government was ready to intervene in the food value chains.

According to the governor, there was a need to internally produce what the state consumed, rather than rely on external substitutes.

Sanwo-Olu made this call during an inspection of the Songhai Model of the Agricultural Youth Empowerment Scheme (AGRIC YES) located in Avia-Igborosun in Badagry.

The AGRIC-YES Songhai model is one of the youth empowerment schemes initiated by Lagos State Government.

AgroNigeria gathered that the project commenced activities in 2012 but was abandoned within the last five years. It is however set to be completed.

The governor, after the inspection, noted that the activity had made the need for the revitalisation of the agriculture sector imperative.

It has also indicated that the state can contribute its quota to food production, he added.

To this end, he called for the production and consumption of local food items to rival external productions.

“Having gone round the agric scheme, it is like the job here is not completely completed, so we need to put in money to complete it and now open it up.

“We have seen so many things here from fishing to piggery and we also discovered that less than 50 percent of the land is occupied.

“This has indicated that Lagos can intervene in food production value chains.

“So, what we are going to do as much as possible is to produce things that we can use internally before we now rely on external substitute and this could be a trigger to so many things that we can do,” he said.

SOURCE: AGRONIGERIA