Lagos govt introduces new method for farm produce transportation

IN its quest to guarantee food security for Lagosians, the Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwumi Ambode, has hinted that the government would encourage the use of reusable plastic crates to aid transportation of farm produce as against the use of raffia baskets.

Ambode, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello made this known recently at an event which held at the Police college in Lagos.

He stated that the move was borne out of the government’s resolve to secure agricultural products, stressing that climate change was threatening the increase in agricultural output.

According to him “The greatest challenge to achieving a sustainable reduction in food shortage, therefore, remains our ability to mitigate the effects of climate change.

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“One of the measures we are putting in place is the encouragement of the use of reusable plastic crates in place of raffia baskets for the carriage of perishable farm produce; this is expected to commence state-wide next year,” he added.

On her part, Executive Director of the British-American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF), Ms Abimbola Okoya, also explained that a higher percentage of agricultural produce was perishable and so measures needed to be taken to ensure significant risks were minimised.

“Small-scale farmers have low volumes of marketable surplus and their farms are mostly located in remote areas with poorly developed infrastructure and transportation.” She said.