The Lagos State Government has identified high transportation costs, inadequate storage facilities, post-harvest losses, and market inefficiencies as major challenges to address in efforts to strengthen the food supply chain and improve food availability.
The state said better coordination across the food value chain, from production and processing to transportation, distribution and market access, was critical to building a resilient food system and improving household welfare.
The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Ope George, stated this on Tuesday during the first day of a three-day biannual review of the implementation of the Strategy for Food Systems Transformation Pathways and the validation of the draft Standard Operating Procedure for the South-West geopolitical zone, held in Ikeja.
George noted that Lagos, as a major centre of consumption, commerce and distribution, depended on food supply links with other parts of the country, particularly the northern states.
He said stronger collaboration between food-producing and food-consuming regions was essential to addressing supply chain challenges and improving the movement of food from farms to markets.
“As a major centre of consumption, commerce and distribution, Lagos State has strong food supply linkages with other parts of Nigeria, including the Northern states.
“This interdependence underscores the importance of collaboration between food-producing and food-consuming regions to address challenges such as post-harvest losses, transportation costs, storage limitations and market inefficiencies,” he said.
The commissioner said the goal was to strengthen food value chains, improve market access for producers, enhance food availability and build a more resilient and sustainable national food system.
He added that food systems transformation extended beyond agricultural production to include processing, storage, transportation, distribution, market access and sustainable consumption.
He said addressing the challenges required coordinated policies, effective institutions, and sustained collaboration among governments, development partners, and other stakeholders.
George said the biannual review provided an opportunity to assess progress in implementing the food systems strategy, identify gaps, address emerging challenges and agree on practical measures to accelerate results.
He stressed that policy commitments must translate into clearly defined responsibilities, coordinated action, appropriate resource allocation and measurable outcomes.
“The validation of the draft SOP is therefore a significant part of this engagement. The document should provide practical guidance for coordination, clarify responsibilities and support consistent implementation, reporting and follow-up across participating institutions,” he said.
George urged participants to scrutinise the draft document to ensure that it was practical, inclusive and responsive to the operational realities of the states and institutions expected to implement it.
He said the three-day engagement should produce a clear assessment of implementation progress and outstanding gaps, a validated standard operating procedure, and concrete actions to strengthen coordination and accountability.
The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Mrs Olayinka Ojo, said the meeting was timely, given the importance of collaboration and effective coordination in transforming food systems.
“The focus of this engagement is timely and important. Food systems transformation requires sustained collaboration, effective coordination and a shared commitment among stakeholders at all levels. This meeting therefore provides a valuable opportunity to review progress, exchange experiences, identify implementation gaps and validate a framework that will support more effective coordination and delivery,” Ojo said.
She added that Lagos State’s decision to host the meeting reflected its commitment to policy coordination and sustainable development, noting the role of food systems in economic growth, job creation and improved livelihoods.
“Given Lagos State’s strong economic and food supply linkages with other parts of Nigeria, collaboration across states and geopolitical zones remains essential to building resilient and sustainable food systems,” she said.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Ms Abisola Olusanya, said the state’s approach to food systems transformation was built around human capital development, infrastructure, technology, financing and enterprise support.
Olusanya said the government had adopted approaches informed by experiences in other countries, while acknowledging that no intervention was entirely foolproof.
“We see human capital development as a key level that cannot be toyed with and should not be toyed with.
“We see infrastructure as being very critical. We see the utilisation of technology as almost impossible to ignore. You can’t ignore that anymore.
“And then we also see financing and enterprise support as being very critical. Risk management, obviously, is embedded in this,” she said.
She explained that the government considered how policies and governance affected businesses and, ultimately, residents, adding that the approach informed the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Olusanya said the state had launched a five-year Agricultural and Food Systems Roadmap in 2021 as part of its efforts to guide the sector’s development.
Earlier, the National Convener of Food Systems, Clementina Ebere-Okoro, said the meeting was designed to assess implementation progress, identify challenges and strengthen the country’s commitment to sustainable, resilient, inclusive and nutrition-sensitive food systems.
She said the Federal Government developed and validated its Food Systems Transformation Pathways following the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit to improve food security, nutrition, livelihoods and environmental sustainability.
According to her, the review would examine achievements at federal and state levels, document implementation challenges and good practices, and agree on measures to address outstanding gaps.
Ebere-Okoro said the draft Standard Operating Procedures were intended to clarify roles, provide operational guidance and strengthen coordination and accountability among institutions implementing the food systems strategy.
She called for contributions from states and other stakeholders to ensure that the document reflected the realities of those responsible for implementation.
Ebere-Okoro also identified climate change, insecurity, malnutrition, post-harvest losses and rising food prices as interconnected challenges requiring evidence-based decisions, effective partnerships and coordinated action.
She urged participants to develop practical recommendations, clear priorities and defined responsibilities to ensure that commitments translated into measurable improvements.