Fashola Boosts Food Production Through Agriculture

After completing her first degree in 2008, Miss. Olanrewaju Oloko, who studied Biochemistry at the Lagos State University , LASU, had no job. Her desire to contribute and help boost the food basket of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, made her enroll with the Agricultural Youth Empowerment Scheme, Agric-YES of the state government in Epe.

Her desire had always been to contribute her quota to socio-economic development. By implication, Agric-YES now provided an opportunity to play a critical role, which she said, Nigeria needed to achieve sustainable agricultural production and realise its food security objectives.

“Food is a special need in human life. It is a weapon in a time of war. So, I desire to do whatever that can help me contribute to the development process in my immediate community and beyond. This is in line with the vision of Agric-YES — to ensure food security in the state.”

She is presently earning a living through agriculture after completing the six-month Agric-YES programme. The state government had given each of the first 100 beneficiaries of the scheme N4.5 million loan grant to take off by establishing their own agricultural venture.

The Agric-YES scheme has the goal of training 1,000 youths in mechanized farming in the next five years. Already, two sets have been trained. Through this scheme, the youths being trained must be ready to make agriculture their means of livelihood and there have been testimonies of its impact on youths in Lagos State .

Governor Babatunde Fashola launched the Agric-YES programme and others aimed at boosting food production and supply in the state in the area of aquaculture, poultry, piggery, fishery, among others.

Also, Mr. Salami Bolaji, a graduate of Olabisi Onabajo University in 2008 was also a beneficiary of the Agric-YES programme. He had studied Plant Science in the institution and decided to actualize her dream by participating in the free Agric-YES programme.

After going through series of training sessions, both in Nigeria and Israel, he became a master in egg and vegetable production and aquaculture. Today, Bolaji rakes in a minimum earning of N100,000 monthly.

“I hope to double this income in the future. “Agric-YES has provided me an avenue to broaden my knowledge of agriculture,” he said.

The Agric-YES initiative was meant to empower youths and create employment in the area of agriculture. A large chunk of fund has been voted for the scheme which has put smiles on the faces of hundreds of Lagosians.

Dr. Bashorun Olajide is the Permanent Secretary, Lagos Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. According to him, agriculture has the greatest potential for job creation. He stated that at least, 125,000 farm families has been created by the administration of former Governor Bola Tinubu, adding that the Fashola administration had raised it to 250,000 farm families in the last four years. He said the number kept soaring, thus creating new opportunities and brightening the state future.

Balogun attributed the 100 percent surge in the population of farm families to the commitment of the Fashola administration to harnessing the state’s agricultural potential to create jobs and ensure food security. He added that an average farm family “consists of four people. At present, we have 250,000 farm families. The figure shows that one million people are directly employed through agricultural production.”

Fashola’s inroads in agro-allied development and progress are not limited to about 1,000 youths, which the administration has trained in different fields of agricultural production and an increasing number of farm families it has raised in the last four years. Balogun also mentioned other efforts of Fashola’s administration in establishing various agricultural estates for Lagos residents interested in food and animal production.

According to Olajide, the state government is engaged in several agricultural estate projects such as vegetable estate, poultry estate, fish farm estate and arable crop estate, adding that these had given major boost to food production in the state and Nigeria at large.

“Everything we have talked about is on the basis of cooperation. It is indeed difficult for a farmer to do something on his own. But when they come together as a group, it will be possible for them to achieve more. We therefore encourage our farmers to set up co-operative societies. We also register, train and supervise them constantly. Co-operative societies are very important for agricultural development,” he said.

The Fashola administration has been taking advantage of the World Bank Assisted Project tagged: Commercial Agric Development Project, CADP, which had transformed the agricultural sector. Under the project, a 4.5 kilometre road to Ikorodu Fish Farm Estate “is being constructed with drainage system and asphalt which has started yielding the desired outcome.”

“Another 20-kilometre road is to be constructed to link farms together and facilitate the movement of farm produce to different markets across the state. With the opening of these roads, there will be reduction in the cost of production and this will generate employment. The road will cost N140 million.”

“CADP is meant to support commercial agriculture in the state. The two major areas CADP will offer support is in the provision of modern technology and development. We are introducing a collapsible tank for those who wish to practice aquaculture in their houses. The tank is constructed in a way that those who are tenants can also purchase it. When the person wishes to leave the house, he can take his property along.

“We are introducing it to the Lagos State Government. CADP is supporting these categories of farmers. The FADAMA project is supporting farmers in the area of asset acquisition, market development, provision of rural infrastructure, capacity building and enhancement of food security through basic technology dissemination. We have other projects on food security. Presently, we are working in nine communities in the state,” he explained.

Senior Special Assistant on Special Projects, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal concluded that the future of the state lay in the extent to which successive governments could harness the agricultural potential of the state.

He cited the Agric-YES programme which he said was conceptualized as a form of social intervention response aimed at “solving the twin problems of mass unemployment and food insecurity in the state. The scheme is a three-phase intervention programme spanning a period of five years with a target of producing 1,000 elite farmers. Phase one is a six-month intensive training programme.

“The second phase focuses on a six-month internship stage, which enables those who scale through the first phase to proceed to the commercial farm to learn best practices on running successful farms. The third stage is the exit stage, where successful trainees are settled in farm estates fashioned after the Isreali Kibutz/Mashev, and Lagos Micro Finance Institution (LASMI) will provide credit facilities and settlement for them.”

According to him, “about 200 youths have benefited from Agric-YES; another set of 50 youths are currently being tutored and mentored at the state Agricultural Training Institute. This has raised hope, which informed Fashola’s resolve to radically transform the sector.

At the graduation of the first 100 youths of the scheme, Fashola said the state “harvests the most critical resource, the fully trained and highly skilled manpower that is the bedrock of our pursuit of food security in our state and country. I am delighted that we have walked our talk again in the agriculture sector of the Lagos economy. This has been possible because great men and women in the state public service share a new belief.”

Fashola hoped the beneficiaries “will take charge of the future that will ensure that Lagos residents do not worry about what to eat. Because if a country as small as Israel can do it, Lagos too can replicate that feat. In order to support the take-off of the programme, our administration has approved micro-finance funding for their co-operatives, which has been developed and is receiving support from the Ministry of Agriculture.”

“I am optimistic that the elite farmers will lead Lagos State into a new experience of high quality farming methods, packaging techniques, marketing and distribution network and strategies that will truly revolutionize the image and concept of agriculture in our state and country. I see the birth of many other support industries such as canning and other value added services commencing not too long from now,” he added.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga