A poultry farmer, Shittu Asimi, has appealed to the Lagos State Government to embrace the National Home-grown School Feeding Programme to open opportunities for farmers in the state.

Asimi, a member of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.

He said that farmers, especially poultry farmers would benefit immensely from the scheme if the Lagos State Government embraced it because of the huge school population in the state.

”The National Home-Grown School Feeding programme is a Federal Government project that is currently ongoing in 24 out of 36 states of the country.

”The Osun State Government initiated the school children feeding programme even before it was adopted by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. So, all eyes are on Lagos State to adopt the programme.

According to him, the Federal Government has set aside a statutory allocation for the programme in all states of the federation but information reaching us is that the allocation is not sufficient for Lagos State.

”We appeal to the Lagos State Government to augment the funds already provided by the Federal Government so as to commence the feeding programme in the state.

”We know the state has more schools than other states in the country but we believe the Lagos State Government is buoyant enough to kick off the programme.

”If a state as small as Osun can initiate and commence the feeding programme years before the Federal Government adopted it, then Lagos should be able to co-sponsor the programme.”

Asimi said that the feeding programme if adopted in Lagos, would not only benefit poultry farmers but other people in the agricultural value chain.

”The likely beneficiaries of the programme is not only the students but the farmers, the food vendors, the parents and everybody involved.

”It is going to benefit the Poultry Association of Nigeria because we are chicken producers and suppliers. It will provide a guaranteed market for us.

”With the feeding project the Lagos State Government will be able to empower local farmers through their patronage and various food vendors of rice, oil, vegetable etc.

The National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme has engaged 90,670 Nigerians as cooks and over a 100,000 local farmers since the programme commenced in 2016. (NAN)

– Feb. 6, 2019 @ 13:12 GMT |