Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat has emphasized the importance of Agricultural Engineering as the best to ensure food security in Nigeria. This, he said, will help to develop more innovation that can allow the nation to boost her economy, noting that no nation can survive without a functional engineering system. Hamzat stated this today during a courtesy visit by the National Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineers (NIAE), Prof Folarin Alonge and members of the institution to his office at the Round House Alausa, Ikeja, The Dep[uty Governor stressed the importance for the nation to produce what the citizens can eat and eat what they produce for the growth of the country. According to him, “The President has made it clear that “as a people, we must ensure that we produce what we eat, because without producing what we eat, it will be difficult to have food sustainability and security. As such every state must now come up with whatever advantage they have to make sure that they are able to produce something.” While highlighting the achievements of the administration in Agriculture, The Deputy Governor stressed that the Eko Rice Mills at Imota in its full capacity will produce 2.5million rice of 50kg in a year, which is believed to be big, saying the challenge is that the state occupies 0.34 per cent of the country’s landmass and, one third of it, is water with 10-11percentage of the nation’s population in Lagos. He also hinted at the plan to construct the largest Agricultural hub where food items, animals and other livestock will be concentrated for easy transactions between the farmers and the traders. Besides, there are going to be facilities that are capable of tracking animals brought to Lagos from different parts of the country, ostensibly to detect those that have diseases.
