The Lagos State Government has recognized poor meals preservation, insufficient storage amenities and excessive transportation prices as main drivers of meals inflation in Nigeria, saying decreasing post-harvest losses might assist decrease meals costs.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Ms Abisola Olusanya, acknowledged this on the bi-annual evaluation of the implementation of the Strategy for Food Systems Transformation Pathways (FSTP) and validation of the draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the South-West geopolitical zone in Lagos.
Olusanya mentioned massive portions of meals produced in numerous components of the nation typically perish earlier than reaching Lagos markets attributable to dangerous roads, a number of checkpoints, excessive transportation prices and insufficient temperature-controlled storage amenities.
She mentioned, “A lot of food is rotting by the sides of the road. Our problem around inflation is not production. It is actually preservation, storage, logistics.”
The commissioner mentioned the state of affairs had made it essential to strengthen meals storage, transportation and distribution programs to minimise losses between farms and customers.
To deal with the problem, she disclosed that the state was creating the Lagos Food Logistics Hub on 400 hectares of land to enhance meals dealing with, storage and distribution.
According to her, the power, modelled after the Rungis International Market in Paris, would function a central level for receiving, grading, storing and distributing agricultural produce, supported by smaller distribution hubs throughout the state.
Olusanya mentioned the proposed system would additionally enhance meals traceability, enabling the federal government to observe the origin of produce and the way it was dealt with earlier than reaching customers.
She expressed concern over the restricted info accessible to customers concerning the sources and dealing with of meals, together with using chemical compounds akin to carbide to ripen fruits, stressing the necessity for stronger high quality management and requirements throughout meals markets.
The commissioner added that the logistics hub would promote clear pricing by means of an auction-style association through which consumers compete for produce, permitting market forces to find out costs. It would additionally set up requirements for meals preservation, storage, packaging and show.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Ope George, mentioned meals programs transformation was vital to meals safety, vitamin, employment, financial development and family welfare.
George famous that the idea prolonged past agricultural manufacturing to incorporate processing, storage, transportation, distribution, market entry and sustainable consumption.
He mentioned significant progress required coordinated insurance policies, efficient establishments and sustained collaboration amongst stakeholders, including that the success of the technique must be assessed by its implementation and measurable affect.
According to him, Lagos’s place as a significant consumption and distribution centre, with sturdy meals provide hyperlinks to different components of Nigeria, significantly the northern states, makes cooperation between producing and consuming areas important.
He recognized post-harvest losses, excessive transportation prices, insufficient storage and market inefficiencies as challenges requiring coordinated motion throughout states and geopolitical zones.
George mentioned the federal government remained dedicated to evidence-based planning, acceptable useful resource allocation and efficient monitoring to make sure that coverage commitments translated into measurable improvement outcomes.
He added that the validation of the draft SOP would assist make clear institutional tasks, strengthen coordination and promote constant implementation and reporting amongst collaborating establishments.
Similarly, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Deborah Oboh famous that this Bi-annual evaluation supplies an vital platform to evaluate the progress that has been made in implementing these meals system transformation pathways since its final evaluation.
Dr. Deborah Oboh, represented by the Programme National Convenor, Dr Clementina Ebere-Okoro, mentioned the evaluation would assess progress in Nigeria’s meals programs transformation, deal with implementation challenges and validate the draft Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to strengthen coordination, accountability and consistency at federal and state ranges.
She recognized local weather change, insecurity, malnutrition, post-harvest losses and rising meals costs as key challenges, stressing the necessity for evidence-based policymaking, efficient partnerships and a coordinated government-wide and society-wide strategy to reaching sustainable meals safety, improved vitamin and higher livelihoods.
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