The Lagos State Government has said that it would partner with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to provide technical support to aid the growth of the coconut value chain.
Disclosing this was the Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, noting that coconut ranked among the state’s major cash crops.
She said that the efforts of the state in coconut production positioned Nigeria as the 19th coconut-producing country in the world, with Lagos State contributing more than 80 percent of Nigeria’s annual coconut production.
Olusanya added that the incumbent administration had mapped out a 5-year plan that would boost coconut production, tapping into its economic benefits.
She said, “Coconut is one of the major cash crops in Lagos State with the state producing over 80% of the country’s annual production of 285,200 metric tons (MT). The effort of the state in this regard has earned the 19th spot on the World Coconut producing countries.
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“However, despite the efforts of the state government through the Lagos State Coconut Development Authority in harnessing the full potentials of the tree crop, the state has only been able to access 20 per cent of its potentials through rehabilitation and production efforts upstream and processing, utilization and commercialisation downstream while only meeting about 30% of the local demand.
“It is pertinent to note that the strategic 5-year Agricultural Road Map of the present administration of having 10,000,000 productive Coconut Trees in Lagos State under the Coconut Value Chain will provide over 80 husked nuts per tree to a total of over 800,000,000 husked nuts per annum currently valued at an average of ₦100 per nut with the economic value of over ₦76Billion per annum which could be tripled to a tune of ₦240Billion worth of transaction volume with value-added annually. These figures can only be achieved if the right technical and financial supports are provided.
“It is in the light of this that the state government through the Lagos State Coconut Development Authority is collaborating with Food and Agriculture Organisation to provide technical support in the development of the Coconut Value Chain through a unilateral trust fund.”
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