Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya has applauded farmers for their contributions, hard work and vigour in ensuring that the food supply chain was not broken, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Ms. Olusanya gave the commendation at the December edition of the Eko City Farmers’ Fair and Farmers’ Appreciation Day held at the Ndubusi Kanu Park, Alausa, Ikeja, stating that the agricultural sector has received a lot of attention from the State Government to improve the supply chain,
Noting that year 2020 has been peculiar, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Commissioner said, “We know what happened during the lockdown when people thought they were not going to get access to food but yet our farmers came through for us. Many thanks to you our dear farmers, you stood by us by ensuring that the food supply chain was not broken at any time. It was stretched yes, but with your efforts and God’s grace it was not broken”.
Olusanya pointed out that the Farmers’ Appreciation and Award Day event was designed to show appreciation for the contribution of the practitioners to achieving the goals of the T.H.E.M.E.S. Agenda saying, “Let there be no doubt in your minds concerning how appreciative this administration is when it comes to your contributions to ‘Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy’. What we are doing today is the least we can do to appreciate you”.
The Commissioner maintained that the Eko City Farmers Fair was designed to be a melting point for farmers to sell directly to consumers and for Lagosians to buy farm-fresh products directly from stakeholders at farmgate prices while shopping in a relaxed atmosphere.
“We want people to be able to come here with their kids to be able to shop and for the kids to be happy as well. That is the essence of having a positive atmosphere. Another thing is for us also to appreciate our farmers today, we realised that this year has been a very, very tough year, especially for farmers, considering all they have been through,” Olusanya said.
She noted that “There is no better way than to start to put our farmers on a platform where they are also recognised locally. It’s been done in other climes and we need to start that from Lagos at least for this year”.
In recognition of outstanding farmers for the year 2020, Dr. Yakub Bashorun emerged as Best Farmer; Mr. Samuel Omitunde emerged the Most Promising Farmer, and Mrs. Sola Ogunleye emerged as the Best Woman in Agriculture.
