By Olawale Gabriel

Lagos State Government has declared its commitment to food security in the state by ensuring optimum utilization of its natural endowment in the agricultural sector.

Tomatoe sellers at Mile 12 market

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, stated this while speaking at this year’s World Food Day celebration organised by the state in conjunction with the British American Tobacco of Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) at the Police College in Lagos.

Ambode who was represented by Tunji Bello, Secretary to the state government, said the state would also not relent in providing necessary support to increase the productive capacity of farmers and other key players in the Agric value chain towards achieving a zero hunger world by 2030.

He said that the theme of this year’s celebration which is “our actions are our future: A zero hunger world by 2030 is possible” is reassuring particularly against the backdrop of recent report which indicated that 821million people were afflicted with hunger in 2017. This figure shows a rise in the world hunger index and a setback in the progress that the world has recorded in the fight against hunger and malnutrition in the last 10 years.”

Ambode also stated that climate change, in the form of increased intensity of heat and flood being experienced in different countries around the world including Nigeria had been identified as a major contributing factor and threat to the achievement of global objectives on food security.

“The greatest challenge to achieving sustainable reduction in food shortage therefore remains our ability to mitigate the effect of climate change and also develop new farming strategies and methods that can withstand the effect of climate change.

This, I believe is the challenge, which the theme for this year’s celebration is calling our attention to,”

Speaking further he said that the state is at the forefront of the efforts to ensure food security for the over 20million people in the state, adding that the state is collaborating with other states of the federation both within and outside the western geopolitical zone to develop partnership that will result in improved productivity in the agriculture value chain.

“This collaboration has impacted positively in promoting food safety in Lagos state and Nigeria. A clear example is the Lake rice revolution which has contributed in no small measure to the significant reduction in rice importation,” he said.