The Lagos State Government has called for private sector investment and collaboration in its Agriculture sector particularly in the Red Meat Value Chain, Artisanal Fisheries and Livestock Feed Mills.
Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya who made the call in Lagos over the week explained that the State Government has identified many areas of investment opportunities for the private sector participants particularly in the three Value chains hence the need for the collaboration.
According to her, this partnership would increase production in the value chains, stimulate jobs across the value chains, standardize operations in the value chains as well as enhance the GDP of the State.
She said Lagos is the largest market in Sub-Saharan Africa with over 22million in terms of population, while food worth over N5tn is consumed annually and over N8bn on a monthly basis.
Stressing the need to organize the market which is the only way to derive value, Ms Olusanya said an Expression of Interest advertisement would be rolled out from next week for interested investors.
She stated that in the red meat sector, the State consumes over 6,000 herds of cattle daily and over 1.8 million herds of cattle annually which is 50% of the red meat consumed in Nigeria as a whole.
The Commissioner described the transactional value for cattle alone in Lagos to be worth over N328bn adding that when the red meat transformation agenda comes fully into play, it would help the State Government eliminate logistics costs of transporting cattle.
Ibukunoluwa Temitope
