Sanwo-Olu Launches Produce for Lagos Programme, N500 Billion Guarantee Fund
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has launched the “Produce for Lagos” Programme alongside a ₦500 billion Offtake Guarantee Fund, declaring a new phase in the state’s effort to transform its food system and strengthen food security.
Speaking at the official launch held in Lagos on Wednesday, the governor revealed that the state’s food economy, which stood at ₦6.5 trillion annually just a few years ago, has now surged to ₦16.14 trillion—a reflection of Lagos’s rising appetite and economic role in the nation’s food trade.
Sanwo-Olu said Lagos remains Nigeria’s largest food market, consuming more than half of all food traded across the Southwest.
He noted that despite this massive demand, nearly 50 percent of food harvested never makes it to market, owing largely to post-harvest losses, poor storage, and inefficient transportation. He attributed the push for reform to the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which laid bare the state’s dependency on food imports and its exposure to global supply shocks.
The governor recalled that the need for transformation led to the unveiling of the Lagos State Agricultural and Food Systems Roadmap in 2021. Under the roadmap, the state undertook a comprehensive overhaul of its food system strategy.
The agricultural budget, which was just ₦4.2 billion in 2018, was increased to nearly ₦80 billion—the highest in the state’s history. Sanwo-Olu said this increase reflected the administration’s firm belief that food, like transportation and energy, is a key economic infrastructure deserving of serious investment.
To further institutionalize its reform efforts, the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture was renamed in 2024 to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems, an intentional step to signal a broader and more integrated approach to food policy.
The governor explained that the state’s efforts so far have included targeted subsidies, the construction of a major food logistics hub in Epe, and support for smallholder farmers and agropreneurs.
He said these initiatives laid the foundation for the “Produce for Lagos” Programme, which he described as the next logical step in the journey toward a self-reliant and resilient food system.
Sanwo-Olu said the new programme will connect food producers across Nigeria directly with Lagos’s food economy, offering off-take contracts, logistics support, and financing opportunities that will reduce reliance on informal supply chains.
The programme will be implemented through the Lagos Food Systems Infrastructure Company, with the support of special-purpose agencies and logistics companies set up by the state.
Highlighting the economic vision behind the project, the governor described the ₦500 billion Offtake Guarantee Fund not as a subsidy but as an investment mechanism designed to unlock private capital, stabilize food prices, and de-risk agricultural activity across the value chain.
He said the fund will support everyone from bulk traders and logistics providers to aggregators and farmers, providing the liquidity and credit they need to function more efficiently and sustainably.
Sanwo-Olu emphasized that these efforts are in line with the federal government’s food security vision under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
He called on stakeholders and investors to support the initiative, insisting that policy alone cannot drive the needed change—it must be backed by real financing and infrastructure. According to him, the programme is expected to create jobs, expand market access for farmers, stabilize food prices, and ultimately ensure that Lagos can sustainably feed its growing population now and in the years ahead.
