Lagos lawmakers push for youth participation and local farming to boost food security, with a focus on creating an enabling environment for agriculture.

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]awmakers in Lagos held a meeting to discuss tackling food insecurity, with a focus on youth participation and local farming to ensure a sustainable future.

On Friday, members of the Lagos State House of Assembly held stakeholders’ meetings across various constituencies, reaffirming their commitment to boosting food security and self-sufficiency in the state.

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The theme of this year’s ninth stakeholders’ meeting was *Ensuring Food Security for a Sustainable Future: Youth Participation and Home-Grown Farming.

Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, who spoke in his Agege Constituency 1, stressed the need for collaboration between the government and the public to address the multifaceted issue of food insecurity.

He highlighted that the Assembly is dedicated to making Lagos a producing state within the agriculture value chain, aligning with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of eradicating poverty.

Obasa also mentioned the Assembly’s efforts to support agricultural development through transformational laws and policies.

These include initiatives like the 34-hectare Ikorodu Fish Farm Estate, with a capacity to produce and process 10,000 tons of fish annually, and partnerships with 400 local fish farmers.

He also cited the AGRIC-YES programme and pig farming estates in Oke-Aro and Gberigbe, which involve 1,200 farmers and can process 88,000 mature pigs per year.

In addition, the Speaker reiterated the importance of the 2021 anti-open grazing law in creating an enabling environment for farming.

Ganiyu Egunjobi, Chairman of Agege Local Government Area, called for the government to address key issues like insecurity and the lack of low-interest loans for farmers, which contribute to food shortages.

He recommended infrastructure development in rural farming areas to make farming more attractive to the youth and curb urban migration.

Dr. Akinyemi Olusegun, from the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, urged residents and youths to embrace urban farming to meet the state’s growing food demands, stressing the importance of local, home-grown food production.