Lagos consumes 1.8m herds of cattle annually - Commissioner

The Lagos State Government on Friday said residents of the state consume 1.8 million heads of cattle annually.

This is according to the Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, who disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

She reiterated the commitment of the state government in exploring the state’s waterways to expand the fishery opportunities, noting 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.

“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,” she said.

“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.”

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

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

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