Dr Olayiwole Onasanya, Director of Agricultural Services, Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said on Thursday that foodstuffs worth about N84 million were wasted daily in Lagos.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Onasanya said this in interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
According to him the wasted foodstuffs account for 40 per cent of the available foodstuffs in the area estimated at N30.6 billion annually.
“The issue is improper packaging and improper transportation. When these products get into Mile 12 or some other markets at least 40 per cent of them go to waste.
“And what do these marketers or these middlemen do? They have to recouped their costs, and how do they do it? They increase the price.
“But if there is proper transportation and proper packaging, I tell you, the price will go down.
“We have N84 million of all these produce go into waste every day. Therefore, the state government is introducing a new method of transportation and packaging in our major markets.“We expect that out of the 40 per cent waste, we will redeem about 30 per cent.
“So what the state is doing is also to improve production even within the state and that is what we have done through different technologies.”
He attributed foodstuffs wastage and insecurity in the Northern part of the country as the major causes of the high prices of perishable foods in Lagos.
Onasanya said the state government was working on a new transport system that would assist in reducing foodstuffs wastage in the state.