Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, signed the agreement on behalf of the state government, while the Country Representative of FAO, Dr Fred Kafeero, signed for FAO.

The event took place on Friday in Lagos. Lagos State Government is contributing $150,000 while FAO is supporting with $50,000 for the project.

Olusanya said at the ceremony that the project would run for the next six months, with FAO providing technical and financial assistance for the inception/value chain analysis phase of the intervention.

She said “It is, therefore, my fervent hope that the partnership we are activating today will surely unleash the economic, environmental and nutritional potential in the coconut value chain in the state. The partnership will be on a sustainable basis, as multiple strategies both locally and internationally along with the up, mid and down streams of the value chain, will be deployed to promote production, processing, utilisation and commercialisation. This will be done using the Accelerator for Agriculture and Agro-industry Development and Innovation Plus (3ADI+) Approach as proposed by the FAO-UN. On behalf of the governor and good people of Lagos State, I warmly express our appreciation to the FAO-UN for its interest in Lagos State and in coconut value chain development in particular,”

In his remarks, Kafeero commended Lagos for being the first state to create a unilateral trust fund in the country, saying that it had set an example for other states.

“We saw that we have a comprehensive picture of the situation; we have to develop a strategy that will take us to where we want to go in the next 10 years. To do that, we need current information for us to plan better. The inception phase is largely for backlogs – collecting information about the value chain, looking at production gaps, deficiencies in the processing, the technologies currently used, involvement of stakeholders, market issues. For this phase, we are talking about, the FAO has agreed to provide technical assistance, carry the state government along, get experts that you need. We will expose you to what is happening in other countries with regard to coconut and then discover the area that fits where we want to be as Lagos. We believe that in the next six months, we should have developed a strategy. Then we go ahead with the implementation plan over the period, and that plan will be costed to help us also to use that particular document to have roundtable discussions with potential financiers. I need to say here also that besides FAO, we have colleagues from UNIDO, another UN entity, which mandate is largely on agro-processing and technologies of that nature, market access, etc, and they agreed to work with us so that together, we can support this coconut value chain. Going forward, we shall have more investors but I see the role of the government in terms of engaging would-be-investors and I see that public-private partnerships would be very tremendous for this project,”

The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, gave the charge at an Ofada Day Rice Symposium put together by the Ministry and Ofadaboy.

The event was part of activities marking the celebration of Y2021 World Food Day in the State.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mr Hakeem Adeniji, the Commissioner noted that the rebranding could be achieved by promoting the dietary and health benefits of Ofada rice as well as engaging in standard processing, pointing out that the grains must be organic, odourless, homogeneous, free from impurities and appropriately packaged.

According to the Commissioner, the state government is continually encouraging and empowering Ofada rice farmers, especially those found in locations such as Ise and Obada in Ibeju Lekki Local Government, to sustain and improve the local Ofada rice brand.

She opined that the State Government would continue to support farmers, encourage small and medium scale Agro-processors, while also creating an enabling environment for private sector involvement in agriculture in order to grow the State’s economy through agriculture and food sufficiency.

Her words, “The acceptability of this brand has been hindered by the method of processing and packaging. The locally processed Ofada rice has a pungent smell as a result of fermentation during parboiling. There is also the issue of impurities such as the presence of stones in the rice. Most people have erroneously attributed the smell as a genuine property of Ofada rice and this does not meet international standards”.

The Commissioner explained that in order to correct these errors and put Ofada rice on the global map, the Rice for Job Programme of the Lagos State Government, in 2008, commenced the promotion of hot water soaking of Ofada rice during parboiling as well as putting dried paddy in a destoner machine to eliminate stones and other impurities during milling.

Reiterating the envisaged positive effects of the Imota Rice Mill on production and supply of the commodity, Ms Olusanya said, “The Lagos State Government’s 32 Metric Tonne per hour capacity integrated Rice Mill at Imota, Ikorodu LGA, the biggest in Nigeria and in West Africa, is nearing completion and at full capacity, it would produce 2,400,000 bags of 50kg polished parboiled rice from about 200,000 Metric Tonnes of paddy rice annually. It is expected that no fewer than 250,000 direct and indirect jobs would be created along the entire rice value chain.”

She noted that the theme of the symposium which is “Repositioning the Brand for Local and International Markets,” aligns with the theme of this year’s World Food Day, “Our Actions are our Future: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life

The Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, disclosed this to newsmen in Lagos on Monday.

She noted that about 100,000 bags of 50 kg were being expected for sales at N20,000 per bag.

Olusanya said the state government was working very hard with the Kebbi Government and the Federal Government to ensure that people of Lagos have enough rice during the festive season.

“We are intervening in the area of availability of rice for the festive season, and it will be sold at N20,000 per bag.

“The most important thing is that we have rice available, be it Lake Rice or other brands,” she said.

Olusanya said that the delay in the sale was due to the process of production.

“During the festive season, millets have to be polished, mill, and processed before rice will be available.

“It’s not that rice is not available in the market, but the price points are a bit high.

“The intervention of the Lagos State Government under the leadership of Mr Babjide Sanwo-Olu, in collaboration with the Federal Government, through CBN and the Governor of Kebbi, is to ensure that we have rice available at lower price points.

“Don’t forget that they are in the harvest season now for paddy, so this is the best time to get good quality rice.

“The rice has started arriving as at last week, and we are expecting much more in the next couple of days,” the commissioner said

Sanwo-Olu, who congratulated and wished the new Commissioner a successful tenure in office, first appointed Ms. Olusanya into the State Executive Council on the 20th of August, 2019, as the Special Adviser on Agriculture.

He later appointed her as the Acting Commissioner for Agriculture on 8th June 2020, upon the resignation and subsequent coronation of the erstwhile Commissioner for Agriculture, HRM Oba Omogbolahan Abdulwasiu Lawal, Abisogun II as the 15th Oniru of Iru Kingdom.

Ms. Olusanya is a tenacious and a result-oriented professional with 10 years of experience in leadership roles spanning sales, marketing and supply chain management with a speciality in executing strategies towards food security, SME inclusion, growth and profitability.

She is a leader with a participatory management style and proficiency in establishing and managing an entire operation with a key focus on sustainable organisational culture in line with global management practices.