Mushin Food Hub Records Food Transaction Worth N918m In 40 Market Sales – Abisola Olusanya

The Lagos state government has said that the middle-level agro produce platform in Mushin area of the state has recorded in the last 40 market sales, transactions of food worth over N918 million with 339 active vendors selling different food items.

Abisola Olusanya, Lagos state Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems dropped this hint while addressing newsmen on the ministry’s rebranding and formal announcement of the ministry from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems at the Lagos Secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja.

She said for 40 market days from the full operationalisation of that place, the state has registered 339 active vendors which have been selling at that site, without being charged a penny or kobo.

According to her, “Over N918 million has been recorded as a transaction that has happened with regards to food items that have been sold. Over 26,000 kilos of garri have been sold, over 18,313 kilos of poultry meat have been sold, over 180,000 kilos of rice have been sold, and over 55,000 crates of eggs have been sold, among several other food items.

Olusanya said that the idea around this is to showcase that when you have an organized place, you can tell what is happening there and be able to deal with it effectively.

“For the first time, we can give data around quantity of specific food items coming into a market, we can tell you who is selling what, and we can give a price at which they are selling. All of these actually help us to address challenges we see across board.

She said that the Ministry will have an additional three departments which include; the Department of Livestock Services, the Agricultural Engineering Department as well as Agricultural Produce Safety and Quality Control Department.

She said that the reasons for these departments are not far-fetched, according to her, “livestock services because we are in the process of having a feedlot and not just a feedlot, we know Lagos as the hub for food and not just a hub for food marketing, but also the fact that when it comes to cattle, sheep, and goats, Lagos remains the epic centre of where these particular livestock are sold, processed and consumed.

“So for that reason, we felt it is essential to have a livestock services department, we still have the veterinary department which is more around animal health and then we have the livestock department,” she said.

For the Agricultural Engineering department, according to her, the state has procured tractors and other implements as far back as 2021 during the state’s enterprise activation programme.

“We have been utilizing them and we will be having more and because of the partnership also with the sister states, there will be a lot more investment around mechanisation to aid more in terms of crop production and for that reason, we felt it was essential to create the department.

For the Produce Safety and Quality Control department, she said since the state is the food epicenter of Nigeria where commercial activities happen, it is essential to have a full-fledged department to cater to produce, safety, and quality of food.