20th April, 2011
The Lagos State government has earmarked N351million as counterpart fund for several externally funded agricultural development projects in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Dr. Olajide Bashorun, disclosed this yesterday while flagging off the 2011 planting season at the Ikorodu Farm Settlement, Odogunyan, Ikorodu, Lagos.
According to Olajide, the state government had been fulfilling all obligations on externally funded projects in terms of regular payment of required counterpart contributions.
“For this year, 2011, the state government had set aside N351million as counterpart fund to the CADP, Fadama III, NPFS, RTEP and RUPIN,†he said.Bashorun assured that the government would continue to implement programmes and projects that would bring down the levels of unemployment, reduce poverty and improve the standard of living of its citizens through agriculture.
On the planting season, the Permanent Secretary said the event was meant to arouse the consciousness of farmers and fishermen to boost their contribution towards the attainment of food security in the state.
“Since the bedrock of any serious food security agenda is food production, efforts are being intensified to harness available resources towards its improvement, especially in areas where the state has comparative ecological and socio-economic advantages, such as fish production, poultry, sheep and goat and vegetable production,†he stated.