Lagos consumes 1.8m heads of Cattle annually, says Commissioner

The Lagos state government has said that residents of the state consume 1.8 million heads of cattle annually.

The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, who disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, also reiterated the commitment of the government in exploring the state’s waterways to expand the fishery opportunities.

She noted that the Japanese would export shrimps and later import the products to Nigeria.

While describing the situation as ridiculous, the commissioner lamented that a lot more needs to be done to harness the abundant water resources in the state.

The Commissioner said, “We have these abundant water bodies around us, what are we doing with it? These are areas where Lagos would like to concentrate on areas where we have the competitive and comparative advantage.

“We would like to expand on what we can do in the red meat sector. Lagos consumes well over 1.8 million heads of cattle on an annual basis. We consume over 6,000 heads of cattle on a daily basis.

“When you consider the transactional value for cattle alone for Lagos, it’s over ₦328 billion but we are producing nothing”, she added.

The commissioner emphasized that since Lagos is the largest market for meat, it would make sense for the state government to set up ranches.

Olusanya disclosed that the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu -led administration is working on the move, explaining that the government will be rolling out an Expression of Interest to investors.

When asked what the market value of agriculture in Lagos is, the commissioner replied “Over ₦ 5 trillion,” noting that it translates to over ₦13 billion daily”.