Lagos State Government is partnering some 30,000 registered butchers in the state, to check the activities of illegal abattoir operators.

Commissioner for Agriculture, Gbolahan Lawal, said this in Lagos, saying the collaboration would ensure that only certified animal carcasses would be sold in Lagos markets.

Lawal said any butcher who slaughtered animals at an illegal abattoir would be punished because of the state’s red meat reforms.

According to him, no fewer than 30,000 butchers have been registered under the state’s red meat reform initiative.

He noted that with the intervention of government in the value-chain, the problem of illegal abattoirs had reduced substantially.

The commissioner said government had encouraged private sector investments on abattoirs, noting that the initiative had helped to reduce the number of unregistered abattoirs.

Lawal said government was committed to carrying out continuous reforms on the red meat value-chain, to ensure that residents consumed safe, wholesome and hygienic meat, processed in certified environments.

He said government had also engaged stakeholders in the meat value-chain, including veterinary doctors, to certify animals before slaughtering while butchers would be formally licensed to slaughter animals.

Lawal said further that any carcass of an animal sold in the market would already have had a tag.

He explained that with the tag, a Local Government committee and the butchers’ association would monitor the meat as they entered markets.

The commissioner warned that the state’s meat hygiene law stipulated severe penalty for illegal abattoir operators.

“There is a meat hygiene law. Penalty for offenders is prosecution if you have an illegal abattoir,’’ he stated.

The commissioner assured that the Lagos government would not rest on its oars until activities of illegal abattoirs were completely eradicated in the state.

Lawal said Lagos State Government has mapped out 17 farm settlements in three Local Government Areas of the state, to boost food security and tackle poverty.

He said the farm settlements were located in Ikorodu, Epe and Alimosho Local Government Areas, saying farmers at the settlements will engage in poultry, piggery, fisheries and other agricultural activities, including the processing value-chain.

He said the farm settlements would create opportunities for 15,000 youths and women, interested in agriculture to make their living.

According to him, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration has put strategies in place to start exporting agro-processing products after satisfying local needs.

Lawal said agriculture would provide answer to daily influx of people to into Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and most populous city.

To this end, the commissioner said the government had also adopted measures to achieve food security, tackle poverty, youth unemployment and boost the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through agriculture.

Lawal said government had produced a five-year plan to achieve its set goals in agriculture after extensive research, consultations stakeholders’ engagements.

According to him, the roadmap has at its core target, a strategy that will ensure food security and provide solution to the unemployment problem.

Lawal said farmers were being assisted to do a lot of primary production and value addition in various agricultural value-chains, which he said had created thousands of jobs.

He said value-addition, to the rice value-chain, for instance, had created 256,000 jobs both within and outside Lagos State.

The state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, said Lagos State Government had invited local and foreign partners to invest in its planned piggery processing plant, to be established in Ikorodu, near Lagos.

He said the plant would be built at the pig farm settlement at Egberigbe community in Ikorodu.

Lawal recalled that the establishment of the plant was part of the recommendations at an agricultural summit, organised by the ministry last year.

According to the commissioner, entrepreneurs need to embrace pork processing, to tap pig farming potential fully.

Lawal said also government had adopted strategies to reduce food wastages and post-harvest losses in the agricultural value-chains.

He recalled that the 2019 summit had adopted a strategy of minimising wastages by creating wholesale agricultural produce markets.

According to him, when the wholesale market begins, it will solve the issue of harvesting farm produce and lacking avenues to sell.

He explained that with that specialised market, the problem of lacking avenues to sell farm produce would have been resolved.

The commissioner said the ministry would continue to use Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos for the market, being a strategic location.

He reiterated the State Government’s resolve to implement some of the recommendations of the summit, to address major challenges confronting the agriculture space.

He said government has raised the capacity of rice and poultry productions and begun the construction of 25 other agro-processing factories.

Lawal said the agro-processing factories were expected to generate employment opportunities for no fewer than 2,300 employeeswhen they began operations, saying the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had made a quantum leap in both rice and poultry productions.

According to him, Lagos is making an enormous impact on the value addition and marketing in the rice value chain, capable of creating 256,000 jobs.

“With it, we are projecting that the mill from its input supply and primary production to the market, will be able to create 256,000 jobs,’’ the commissioner said.

He said not all the jobs would be offered in Lagos because “we are already discussing with some South-West states as well as Kebbi, Niger and Kwara on the primary production of rice.

On poultry production, Lawal recalled that in the past, the poultry was a major contributor to the state’s agricultural economy, right from 1967 when the ministry was created.

“In the days of Alhaji Lateef Jakande as the executive governor of Lagos State, the state was number one producer of poultry products; but with urbanisation, the arable land became very scarce,’’ he said.

The commissioner said government had evolved a strategy to create value- chain-based estates, which led to the creation of the Ayedoto Poultry Estate and another poultry estate at Igbodu.

He said other value chains include: intensive farming poultry, aquaculture and piggery among others while the introduction of new incentives had increased women and youths’ participation in agriculture.

The commissioner said government would seek partnership with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council ( NEPC) on how to attract foreign direct investments to its agricultural sector.