The Lagos State Government has lauded farmers in the state for their hard work, vigour and contributions to sustaining food supply chain, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown, Nature News gathered.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, gave the commendation on Sunday during the December edition of the Eko City Farmers’ Fair and Farmers’ Appreciation Day at Alausa, Ikeja.
The 15 outstanding farmers were honoured with various awards for their contributions to food security at the ceremony. The Commissioner noted that the pandemic made the agricultural sector the second most impacted sector after health.
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“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. What we are doing today is the least we can do to appreciate you,” Olusanya said.
The commissioner noted that the fair was intended to be a melting pot for farmers to sell directly to consumers and for Lagosians to buy farm fresh products directly at farm gate prices while shopping in a relaxing atmosphere.
She said that a lot of farmers lost their means of livelihoods almost to a point of no return with the swine flu that happened in the piggery value chain.
“Our poultry farmers are still under a lot of strain right now as they are not able to get poultry feed; fish farmers are also going on through a lot of stress with the cost of fish feed and our rice farmers as well. Olusanya noted that farmers play a very important role in the economy of the country and deserved to be recognised as very key stakeholders.
“We need to understand that economies globally be it the Netherlands, US and even Europe as a great continent, all started with farming and farming is still the backbone of the economy,” she added.
