The World Bank Supervision Mission of the Nigeria Commercial Agriculture Development Project, CADP and the FADAMA III Project have ranked Lagos State high in the projects implementation across all the components.

Leader of CADP, Mrs. Ann Bjerde, who is the Senior Manager,Sustainable Development on Agriculture sector of the World Bank,Washington  DC, made the remarks during a courtesy call on the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal.

Bjerde said the state is actually doing well. ’’Agric is very important to Lagos and also for Nigeria, the CADP and Fadama projects are very important on the value chain and agriculture is one of the best sectors of all the 49 sectors of the World Bank-assisted projects.

I am looking forward to going to the sites and seeing the impact of the projects.” She said Lagos is the commercial hub of the country and a comprehensive evaluation of the project is neccessary to have a complete assessment of how the project is doing.

Bjerde said with the impression on ground, “the Government should express its wish in terms of what area it would like to seek more assistance from the World Bank, so in that strategy, it will be clearer wish areas we would be supporting.

“But right now, we are looking at the projects and implementation and also seeing what opportunity could arise to scale up the next strategy.”

Addressing the team, the commissioner said the state government was doing all within its capacity to maximize the agricultural land usage and expect the continuous support of the World Bank through its various intervention projects such as the CADP and FADAMA in terms of infrastructure development and support services.

Lawal reiterated that the present administration takes food security very seriously and with the support of Governor Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State is doing its best to meet responsibilities in terms of requirements for the projects such as the counterpart contributions and all the necessary support.

He disclosed that FADAMA projects were present virtually in all farms and nine out of the 10 rural access roads are ready for commissioning. He further explained that the access roads provision was to help farmers take thier produce hitch-free to and from the farm which would lead to reduction in the travel time and costs.

The commissioner, however, implored the team to add piggery farming to the value chain because Lagos is  number one in pig production in West Africa and it has a large market from the neighbouring countries, adding that production must be scaled up to continue to meet demand.

Other members of the team  include Shobha Shetty, Sector Manager, Dr. Lucas Akapa, CADP Taskteam Leader and Dr. Abimbola Adubi, FADAMA III Taskteam Leader, the representatives of CADP, National Coordinating Office, PFMU and Farmers representatives.

The team visited Awolowo Butchers Market in Mushin Local Government Area, and she was impressed with the FADAMA open stores and the borehole projects. In an interractive session with the Awolowo and Iwajowa Butchers Association, the beneficiaries and stakeholders, the chairman of Awolowo Butchers Association, Alhaji Taiwo Adekitan commended the team and expressed satisfaction over the projects.

Alhaji Adekitan said   members of the association have  extended the project with additional  store, saying that “that is to show that we are contributing in our own little way and not leaving all for the government to do”.

He however, disclosed that the market has the challenges of product reservation and called on the government for support.The next point of call was the De-vine Agricultural Multipurpose Society at AIT Road, Alagbado. De-vine Group is an Acquaculture group with interest ranging from fish hatchery production, table size production, brood stock production, fish processing, feed mill and marketing. President of the group, Mr. Alex Akhigbe thanked the World Bank team for the various intervention programmes which led to the development of agriculture in the state.

Notwithstanding, Mr Akhigbe stated the challenges facing the group to include the low quality and high cost of raw materials of fish feed, adding that the quality of some of the raw materials are questionable. He therefore sought for assiatance in the areas of direct raw materials importation by the group.

De-vine Farmers CIGs however, used the opportunity to present award to some of the team members who have worked tirelessly to see that the intervention project was a success in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole.The Awardees are Dr. Lucas Akapa, CADP Taskteam Leader, Dr. Amin Babandi, National Project Coordnator (CADP), Mr. Bolaji Balogun, State Coordinator, CADP and Mrs. Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo.