The Lagos State Authorities has disbursed the sum of N100m in Agrinnovation funds to 26 profitable agripreneurs, aimed toward remodeling agriculture and constructing sustainable options to meals methods within the state.
This yr’s Agrithon noticed 316 enterprise case entries from dynamic startups, championed by younger individuals pushed by a imaginative and prescient to remodel agriculture, from which the 26 finalists emerged.
The State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who offered cheques to the winners throughout the Lagos AGRINNOVATION Summit 1.0, with the theme: ‘Shaping Sustainable Agriculture and Meals Methods for the Subsequent Era’, on Thursday, mentioned that with entry to mentorship, networks, and a share of the fund, the entrepreneurs would have the sources to advance their enterprise options.
Represented by his Chief of Workers, Mr. Tayo Ayinde, the governor acknowledged that the gesture is a logo of what the state can obtain when it trusts the youth to steer and helps them in doing so.
He mentioned, “Out of the Agrinnovation Membership grew the Lagos Agrithon, a testomony to the facility of innovation and alternative. This has created a platform the place younger entrepreneurs from throughout Nigeria pitched their groundbreaking concepts for the way forward for meals.
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“The 26 finalists we honour as we speak haven’t solely made it by means of a rigorous choice course of however have additionally proven us that the way forward for meals in Lagos is vivid. This can be a image of what we are able to obtain once we belief our youth to steer and help them in doing so.
“However let me be clear, this isn’t the place our work ends. With the collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and Meals Methods, Lagos State Employment Belief Fund (LSETF), and Eko Innovation Centre (EIC), we are going to monitor and consider the actions of the 26 entrepreneurs for the subsequent 9 months to see how these companies are rising.”
Sanwo-Olu reiterated the necessity to embrace know-how, foster collaboration, and create sustainable practices that can endure to spice up agriculture within the nation, stressing that there’s a want for the state to search out revolutionary methods to scale back meals waste, improve effectivity, and be certain that meals methods are resilient within the face of local weather change and international challenges.
He famous that the efforts by the Ministry of Agriculture and Meals Methods, the Agrinnovation Membership, and all of the policymakers, trade consultants, and younger innovators are important, including that they assist the state construct a Lagos that isn’t simply self-sufficient however a world chief in sustainable agriculture.
