The Lagos State government says it is activating its plan for the state Red Meat Initiative with the establishment of a feedlot system, a butchers’ academy and a meat shop in the state.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, said the Lagos Feedlot System was being built on a 750-hectare of land in Igbodu, Epe.
Olusanya, who noted that Lagos was the highest consumer of red meat in Nigeria and West Africa, said the government was working on the Lagos Red Meat Initiative owing to the huge financial benefits in the sector.
“Lagos consumes the most meat in Nigeria. Even for the West African belt, we still consume the most meat.
“When we talk about the financials around it, it is huge. And it is also a sector that when you compare it to what other countries have been able to do, compared to South Africa, compared to, let’s say Brazil, it’s actually taking their economies to different heights completely.
“The billions of dollars that they are earning and the amount of resources they put, particularly in red meat space, showcases that there’s a lot of potential here, and we have a lot to do. So, we had made mention, we want to set up a feedlot. And the idea around setting up the feedlot might seem a bit far out for Lagos, but I don’t think it is totally foreign.
“You have countries like Israel that we’re seeing as desert lands, but when it comes to agricultural production, they are one of the best in the world. When you look at countries like the Netherlands, almost similar terrain to Lagos, in fact, the water level, the entire country is practically below sea level. But yes, they are the second largest agricultural exporting country in the world. The commissioner added that the state is planning a #ButchersAcademy to get youths to be involved in the red meat value chain.
“Also, we will be having the #ButchersAcademy, and the idea around the Butchers’ Academy is, if you look at the value chain from top to bottom, from feedlots ranching to the consumers’ table, if we are doing things around the feedlots, around the ranching, in between the very top producers and the final consumers, what kind of butchers, what kind of processors do we have in between?
“A lot of our alapatas (meat sellers), that is what we call the butchers, they are ageing, and you don’t see a lot of the young ones wanting to come into the space, and you can’t blame them also, because when they are also not seeing changes when they don’t see the progression within the space, it doesn’t encourage the young ones.
“To start to change that narrative, we have partnered with a few even of the consumers here, who have mechanised abattoirs to ensure that they start to help us to train the youth in such a way and manner that, yes, they can take on the trade. For those who will be in the Butchers’ Academy, the idea is for them to also be the ones to man these meat shops and make a living working towards the Themes+ Agenda of Governor @jidesanwoolu #ForAGreaterLagos
Credit: The Punch Newspaper
