Farmers in Lagos State are calling for stronger access to farmland, affordable finance, irrigation, agricultural machinery and transportation, saying the measures could help the state substantially increase the amount of food produced within its borders.
The appeal comes as Lagos seeks to raise the share of food consumed in the state that is produced locally from about 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
The latest call came from Mayriam Ali, chairperson of the Ojo Farmers Community, who said vegetable production in Ojo Local Government Area already demonstrates the potential for Lagos to increase its agricultural output despite the constraints facing producers.
Speaking in Lagos on Sunday, September 27, Ali said some vegetables could be harvested within about three weeks of planting, creating an opportunity for farmers to respond quickly to demand if the necessary production and logistics support is available.
She said vegetables produced in Ojo were already moving beyond the immediate Lagos market, with some produce being exported.
“The vegetables that are coming out from Ojo Local Government, 75 per cent of it is going outside the country,” Ali said, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
Her comments have drawn fresh attention to a central question facing Lagos agriculture: how can a densely populated megacity with limited agricultural land increase local food production while simultaneously improving the movement, storage, processing and marketing of food?
The issue is increasingly important because Lagos remains one of Nigeria’s largest food markets, while the state government estimates that more than 70 per cent of the food consumed by residents is produced outside the state.
That dependence means food reaching Lagos often travels long distances before reaching consumers.
Farmers and policymakers say the challenge is therefore not simply about putting more seeds into the ground.
It involves land access, production finance, water, mechanisation, roads, transportation, storage, cold-chain infrastructure, market access and the ability to connect farmers with predictable buyers.
Ojo Farmers Point to Short Vegetable Production Cycles
Ali's argument centres partly on the speed at which vegetables can move from planting to harvest.
She said some vegetables cultivated by farmers in Ojo can be ready for harvest in approximately three weeks.
“When you plant now, in three weeks, you are ready to harvest,” she said, arguing that the short production cycle provides an opportunity to increase supply relatively quickly when farmers have adequate support.
Short-cycle crops can be particularly important in an urban food system because they allow producers to respond more rapidly to market demand than crops requiring much longer growing periods.
But fast production alone does not guarantee food reaches consumers efficiently.
A farmer may have a crop ready for harvest and still lose income if there is inadequate transport, insufficient storage or no reliable buyer.
Ali therefore called for government officials responsible for agriculture to engage directly with farmers and regularly visit production areas to understand the specific problems encountered on farms.
She also advocated project-linked financing that could allow farmers to obtain machinery and other productive assets and repay the cost over time rather than depending exclusively on grants.
The proposal reflects a wider debate about agricultural financing in Nigeria, where the timing of conventional loans can sometimes be poorly matched with farming cycles.
Farmers typically spend money on land preparation, planting, fertiliser, crop protection, labour and irrigation before receiving revenue from the eventual harvest.
A financing arrangement that requires repayment before crops are sold can therefore create pressure on farm businesses.
Agricultural finance structured around planting, harvesting and marketing cycles has been identified by financial-sector stakeholders as an important consideration for expanding agribusiness.
Lagos Wants Local Production to Reach 50 Per Cent
The farmers' appeal comes against an established state-level food-production target.
Lagos State has said it wants to increase local food production from approximately 25 per cent of consumption to 50 per cent.
The target was highlighted in August when the state government launched a poultry intervention known as the “Chicks to Plate” project with BATN Foundation.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Abisola Olusanya, said poultry could contribute to the objective because of its role in food supply, employment and agricultural value chains.
The target does not mean Lagos intends to produce every item consumed by its more than 25 million residents.
Rather, the state's broader food-system strategy recognises that Lagos will continue to depend heavily on food from other parts of Nigeria and potentially international markets.
The immediate objective is to increase the contribution of local producers while improving the systems through which food produced inside and outside the state reaches consumers.
That distinction is important.
Lagos has relatively limited agricultural land compared with states whose economies are more heavily based on farming.
Yet the state has an enormous consumer market.
This creates a particular agricultural model in which production, aggregation, processing, logistics, finance and market access are closely connected.
For farmers in Ojo, the size of that consumer market represents an opportunity.
For policymakers, it represents a systems challenge.
More Than 70 Per Cent of Lagos Food Comes From Outside
At the commissioning of the Agege Mid-Level Agro-Produce Hub on August 12, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said more than 70 per cent of the food consumed in Lagos was produced outside the state's borders.
He linked the dependence on external supplies to transportation costs, post-harvest losses, inadequate storage, supply disruptions and price volatility.
The statement illustrates why the state's agricultural policy increasingly focuses on the entire food chain rather than farming alone.
If food is grown hundreds of kilometres away, the final price in Lagos can be influenced by the cost of moving it, the condition of roads, fuel prices, the availability of trucks, delays at markets and the amount of produce lost before it reaches consumers.
The same applies to locally grown food.
A farmer in Ojo can be geographically close to consumers but still face high logistics costs if roads are congested or if transportation is fragmented.
Fresh vegetables are particularly sensitive because they can deteriorate rapidly without proper handling and cooling.
That makes the link between production and logistics especially important for vegetable farmers.
The Infrastructure Question
Lagos has been developing a network of food hubs intended to shorten the distance between producers, traders and consumers.
The Agege Mid-Level Agro-Produce Hub is the third facility in that network, following the Fresh Food Hub in Mushin and the Abijo hub.
The Agege facility occupies about 7,000 square metres and includes a 4,000-square-metre trading floor designed to accommodate roughly 350 to 400 vendors.
It also has approximately 800 tonnes of dry-storage capacity and about 300 tonnes of cold storage, alongside a dedicated seafood section and parking for food vehicles.
The state government said the facility was designed to reduce losses associated with poor handling and storage while improving the conditions under which agricultural products are traded.
The infrastructure is significant because agricultural production does not end at harvest.
For perishable commodities, what happens during the hours and days after harvest can determine whether farmers make a profit or lose money.
If vegetables remain in the heat for too long, quality can decline.
If transport is delayed, produce can lose market value.
If farmers are forced to sell immediately because they lack storage, they may have less bargaining power when supply is high.
A functioning cold chain can extend the period during which perishable products remain marketable.
That can give farmers and traders more flexibility.
But infrastructure alone does not solve every problem.
It must be integrated with transportation networks, market information, reliable electricity or alternative energy systems, food-safety procedures and financing.
Produce for Lagos and the Market Question
The Lagos government has also been developing the Produce for Lagos programme as part of its effort to connect agricultural production with organised demand.
The programme was launched alongside a ₦500 billion Offtake Guarantee Fund, according to the state government's account of its food-system strategy.
The stated idea is to give farmers greater certainty about where their produce can be sold instead of encouraging production without a predictable market.
For farmers, market certainty can influence whether they decide to expand.
Producing more vegetables requires more seeds, labour, fertiliser, irrigation and transport.
A farmer is more likely to invest in expansion when there is a reasonable expectation that the resulting produce can be sold at a viable price.
This is one reason farmers such as Ali are asking government to move beyond broad agricultural programmes and develop support around specific projects and production areas.
The Ojo farmers' position is that government officials need to understand the realities of individual farming communities before deciding what type of intervention is required.
The needs of a vegetable farmer near Lagos may be different from those of a rice farmer in a northern irrigation zone.
Likewise, a poultry producer has different financing and input requirements from a vegetable farmer.
Agricultural policy therefore has to account for differences between commodities and locations.
Land Remains a Major Constraint
Access to land is one of the issues raised by Ojo farmers.
Lagos' rapid urban expansion creates a difficult balance between agricultural land and competing demands for housing, industry, roads, commerce and public infrastructure.
As the population expands, land values can rise and agricultural plots can come under pressure from alternative uses.
The state has an Agricultural Land Holdings Authority that manages land designated for agricultural purposes and provides schemes covering areas including Epe, Ikorodu, Badagry and the Lekki axis.
The existence of designated agricultural land, however, does not automatically remove the challenges farmers face.
Farmers need secure and sufficiently long-term access to land to justify investments in irrigation, soil improvement, greenhouses, perennial crops, storage and other productive assets.
Where farmers are uncertain about how long they can remain on a plot, major investments can become harder to justify.
For vegetable farmers, land access also affects the ability to rotate crops and maintain production throughout the year.
A secure production base can make it easier to establish relationships with buyers and invest in equipment.
Irrigation and Water Management
Water is another central issue.
Vegetable production requires reliable access to water, particularly when rainfall becomes irregular or when farmers want to maintain production outside the main rainy season.
Lagos' farmers have also experienced the opposite problem: excessive water.
Ojo farmers previously warned that flooding had submerged farmland and destroyed crops during periods of heavy rainfall. The farmers said the swampy terrain in parts of Ojo made agricultural land particularly vulnerable to flooding.
This creates a two-sided water-management challenge.
Too little water can damage crops.
Too much water can destroy them.
For farmers, the solution is not simply more water but better control over water.
Drainage systems can reduce the impact of flooding.
Irrigation can help farmers maintain production during dry spells.
Water-storage facilities can help smooth seasonal fluctuations.
Climate information can help farmers decide when to plant and how to manage crops.
This is becoming increasingly relevant as weather patterns become more difficult to predict.
A recent report on Nigerian agriculture highlighted how irregular rainfall and dry spells have already affected farmers' production decisions, with farmers reporting losses when rains stopped for longer than expected after planting.
For Lagos, climate resilience is therefore becoming part of the broader food-security conversation.
Machinery and the Cost of Manual Production
Ojo farmers also identified agricultural machinery as an area requiring greater support.
Mechanisation can help farmers prepare land, plant, irrigate, harvest and transport produce more efficiently.
But the economics of machinery can be difficult for smallholder producers.
A tractor or specialised piece of agricultural equipment may be too expensive for an individual farmer who uses it only during a limited period of the production cycle.
This has encouraged growing interest in machinery-as-a-service models, in which farmers pay to access equipment when needed rather than purchasing and maintaining the entire machine themselves.
The Federal Government has also promoted a mechanisation-as-a-service approach.
Under the Agri360 Mechanization Training Initiative launched earlier in September, the government said it wanted to create a system through which farmers could access appropriate machinery at affordable cost while increasing participation by women and young people.
Such models could potentially be relevant to urban and peri-urban farming areas like Lagos, where the challenge is not necessarily a complete absence of machinery but the cost and availability of suitable equipment.
Transportation Can Determine Whether a Harvest Becomes Income
For Ojo farmers, transportation is another immediate concern.
Ali said farmers sometimes have produce ready for sale but struggle to move it from farms to markets because of transportation costs.
This is particularly important for vegetables because their market value can decline quickly.
A farmer who harvests in the morning needs an efficient route to buyers.
Delays can result in bruising, spoilage or a loss of freshness.
Transportation also affects access to larger markets.
Ali called for better arrangements for moving agricultural produce to markets and airports, saying this could support both domestic distribution and exports.
The point illustrates why agricultural competitiveness increasingly depends on logistics.
A farm is only commercially productive when it can connect to a buyer.
Roads, trucks, aggregation centres, warehouses, cold rooms and market information therefore form part of the agricultural production system.
For Lagos, where traffic congestion can significantly extend journey times, logistics can be especially important.
From Farm to Consumer
The state's food-system strategy attempts to connect these different stages.
The Lagos Central Food Systems and Logistics Hub at Ketu-Ereyun in Epe is intended to serve as a major aggregation and logistics centre.
The government says the facility is designed to handle more than 1.5 million metric tonnes of food annually and service more than 1,500 food trucks each day when completed.
The state has also identified additional mid-level hubs in areas including Opebi, Bombata, Ikorodu, Apapa, Festac and the Lekki axis.
The strategy is based on a hub-and-spoke model.
Rather than moving every agricultural product through one location, the system is intended to connect a central logistics platform with smaller facilities closer to communities and markets.
The potential advantage is reduced travel and more organised movement of food.
But the effectiveness of the model will ultimately depend on whether farmers can use it easily and whether the costs associated with moving produce through the network remain commercially viable.
Post-Harvest Losses Remain a Major Concern
Food production statistics can sometimes hide a significant problem: not everything harvested reaches the consumer.
Losses can occur during harvesting, loading, transportation, storage, processing and retail.
Vegetables are particularly vulnerable because they have high moisture content and relatively short shelf lives.
Reducing those losses can increase the amount of food available without necessarily requiring an equivalent expansion of farmland.
This is one reason the Lagos government has placed storage and food hubs within its broader agricultural strategy.
The Agege hub's combination of dry and cold storage is intended to improve produce handling and reduce the amount of food lost between arrival and sale.
Better packaging can also reduce damage.
So can improved loading practices, refrigeration and shorter transportation routes.
For farmers, lower post-harvest losses can effectively increase the amount of produce they are able to sell from the same farm.
The Export Dimension
Ali's claim that a significant portion of Ojo's vegetable output leaves the immediate domestic market introduces another dimension to the story.
Lagos is both a major consumer market and a potential gateway for agricultural exports.
The challenge is ensuring that export opportunities do not reduce the availability or affordability of food for local consumers.
That requires a functioning system capable of serving both markets.
Export markets may offer farmers access to higher-value buyers, foreign currency earnings and new commercial relationships.
But exporters also need consistent quality, traceability, packaging, food-safety compliance and reliable logistics.
The state has increasingly discussed agriculture as a value chain that includes processing, packaging, logistics and market access rather than simply raw production.
This approach is also reflected in its broader agricultural interventions.
The earlier Fingerlings to Fork programme, for example, trained 1,436 fish farmers between 2018 and 2025 in aquaculture, value addition, processing, packaging, export readiness and farm management, according to reports on the state's partnership with BATN Foundation.
The move into poultry through Chicks to Plate similarly focuses on production and enterprise development.
Finance Must Match the Agricultural Cycle
The question of finance remains central.
Farmers need money before they generate revenue.
They may need funds for land preparation, seedlings, fertiliser, pesticides, irrigation, labour, machinery and transportation.
The repayment period, however, must correspond with the period during which those investments generate income.
Stakeholders at the 2026 FirstBank Agric & Export Expo in Lagos argued that conventional short-term commercial loans are not always suited to agricultural businesses because the sector operates around planting, harvest and processing cycles.
That argument supports Ali's proposal for project-linked financing.
Under such an arrangement, funding could be connected to a specific productive asset or farm activity, with repayment structured around expected cash flows.
For example, machinery financing could be repaid from several harvest cycles rather than immediately.
Irrigation investment could be linked to increased production.
Storage facilities could be financed based on the revenue generated by aggregation and sales.
Such models would require careful monitoring and risk management.
They would also require credible farm records and reliable market data.
Technology and Agricultural Data
Technology is increasingly becoming part of the agricultural system.
Digital platforms can connect farmers with buyers.
Mobile payments can simplify transactions.
Weather information can support planting decisions.
Digital farm records can help financial institutions assess borrowers.
Traceability systems can help exporters demonstrate where agricultural products originated.
The Lagos government's emerging food-system infrastructure also includes digital elements intended to improve trading and coordination.
For farmers, however, technology must remain practical.
A digital system is useful only if farmers can access it, understand it and afford to use it.
This means connectivity, digital literacy and support services are as important as the software itself.
The goal should be to make technology reduce costs and uncertainty rather than create another administrative burden.
Food Security and the Urban Economy
The discussion about Ojo agriculture ultimately goes beyond farming.
Food prices influence household budgets, wages, transport patterns and the wider cost of living.
For businesses, food inflation can increase labour costs because workers need to spend more on basic necessities.
For restaurants and food processors, higher raw-material prices can increase operating expenses.
For farmers, however, higher prices do not necessarily mean higher profits.
If production costs rise faster than selling prices, farmers can still operate under severe financial pressure.
That is why interventions need to consider the entire value chain.
Reducing transport costs can help farmers and consumers.
Reducing post-harvest losses can increase effective supply.
Improving storage can give farmers greater flexibility.
Better financing can allow producers to invest.
Improved irrigation can reduce weather-related production risks.
Reliable market information can reduce uncertainty.
These elements are interconnected.
Lagos' Urban Agriculture Challenge
Lagos' agricultural challenge is unusual because the state is simultaneously one of Nigeria's largest urban economies and a food-producing environment.
The state cannot simply expand farmland indefinitely.
Urban development places constant pressure on available land.
At the same time, the population creates enormous demand for food.
This means Lagos must pursue several strategies simultaneously.
It can increase productivity on existing agricultural land.
It can strengthen urban and peri-urban farming.
It can improve the use of technology and irrigation.
It can expand processing capacity.
It can improve logistics.
And it can establish stronger commercial relationships with food-producing states outside Lagos.
The Produce for Lagos approach reflects this broader reality.
The programme is designed to connect production centres with the Lagos market rather than insisting that every food item consumed in the state must be grown locally.
That distinction could become increasingly important as the state attempts to balance local production with regional food trade.
Regional Supply Will Still Matter
Even if Lagos succeeds in increasing its local food production to 50 per cent, the state will remain dependent on supplies from other parts of Nigeria.
The country's agricultural geography makes such interdependence unavoidable.
Northern states produce large volumes of grains and livestock.
Middle Belt states contribute heavily to the production of crops such as yam, cassava, maize and other staples.
Southern states produce cassava, oil palm, vegetables, fish and other commodities.
Lagos, meanwhile, provides one of the country's largest concentrations of consumers.
The challenge is therefore not necessarily to eliminate inter-state food trade.
It is to make the trade more efficient.
Reliable roads and rail connections, organised aggregation, storage, processing and market information can help farmers in producing states reach Lagos consumers more efficiently.
The September focus on Ojo farmers therefore sits within a much larger food-system equation.
What Farmers Are Asking For
The demands coming from Ojo can be summarised into several practical areas.
First is land.
Farmers want reliable access to suitable agricultural land.
Second is finance.
They want funding that matches the timing and economics of farm operations.
Third is machinery.
They want access to equipment without necessarily having to shoulder the full cost of purchasing machinery individually.
Fourth is irrigation and water management.
Reliable water can support production, while drainage can reduce losses from excessive rainfall.
Fifth is transportation.
Farmers need efficient routes from farms to markets, processors and export channels.
Sixth is direct government engagement.
Ali specifically urged officials to visit farms and identify the actual constraints affecting production rather than relying exclusively on general programmes.
These requests are not limited to one farming community.
Similar issues recur across agricultural discussions in Nigeria: access to land, finance, inputs, infrastructure, climate information, mechanisation, storage and markets.
The Measurement Challenge
The 25 per cent to 50 per cent local-production target will also require clear measurement.
Determining what percentage of food consumed in Lagos is produced locally involves data on production, consumption, inter-state movement, imports, exports, food categories and population demand.
Different commodities have different supply chains.
Some products may be produced in Lagos but processed elsewhere before returning to the state.
Others may be produced outside Lagos and sold through Lagos-based processors.
A transparent measurement framework would therefore help policymakers determine whether local production is genuinely increasing and where the biggest gaps remain.
It could also help identify which investments are producing measurable results.
The broader Lagos food-system strategy has increasingly focused on data, logistics and organised trading as part of this effort.
What Happens Next
For Ojo farmers, the immediate issue is whether the support they are requesting can translate into greater production capacity.
The state's target is clear: increase the share of food consumed in Lagos that is produced locally from about 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
The route to that target, however, involves several interconnected steps.
Farmers need productive land.
They need capital.
They need water.
They need equipment.
They need roads and transportation.
They need storage.
They need buyers.
And they need an environment in which agricultural investment can generate sustainable returns.
The state is simultaneously expanding food hubs, developing logistics infrastructure and promoting programmes designed to connect producers with markets.
The extent to which these initiatives work together will be important.
A farmer producing more vegetables will benefit little if the harvest cannot be transported efficiently.
A new storage facility will have limited impact if farmers cannot afford to bring their produce there.
A financing programme will have limited impact if farmers cannot access secure land.
A guaranteed market will be difficult to sustain if production is repeatedly disrupted by flooding.
The pieces therefore need to operate as a system.
A Food Strategy Built Around the Entire Chain
The latest call from Ojo farmers reinforces the direction of Lagos' evolving agricultural policy.
The emphasis is moving away from viewing agriculture as simply the activity of growing crops and toward a broader food-system approach.
Production is one part.
Finance is another.
So are irrigation, mechanisation, processing, storage, transport, wholesale markets, retail distribution and exports.
This approach reflects the reality of feeding a megacity.
Lagos does not merely need more farms.
It needs a food economy capable of moving large volumes of agricultural products efficiently from producers to consumers.
That requires both local production and regional supply relationships.
The Ojo farmers' experience provides a practical example of what that means.
They say vegetables can be produced rapidly, but production could increase if farmers receive better access to land, finance, machinery, irrigation and transportation.
Their message is that agricultural potential already exists.
The issue is whether the surrounding system can allow that potential to be converted into consistent supply and sustainable farm income.
Balancing Local Production With Regional Trade
Lagos' goal of increasing local production does not eliminate the importance of agricultural trade with other states.
Instead, the two strategies can operate together.
Local vegetable production can supply nearby consumers quickly.
Farmers in other states can continue supplying grains, tubers, livestock and other commodities that Lagos cannot produce at sufficient scale.
Efficient logistics can connect those sources.
Processing facilities can add value before products reach consumers.
Food hubs can provide points for aggregation and distribution.
Storage can reduce seasonal shortages.
Digital systems can improve information about supply and demand.
Financing can allow farmers to expand when markets are available.
This is the architecture of the food system Lagos is attempting to build.
The Larger Nigerian Context
The developments in Lagos also reflect a national conversation about how Nigeria can increase agricultural productivity and reduce food insecurity.
Federal and state governments have introduced programmes targeting fertiliser access, mechanisation, irrigation, farmer training, agricultural finance, processing and market development.
The Nigeria AgriConnect Compact launched in Ibadan this month similarly focuses on connecting agricultural production with infrastructure, finance, research, processing, logistics and markets.
The initiative targets millions of people and is intended to strengthen agricultural value chains.
That broader strategy shares an important principle with the concerns raised by Ojo farmers: agricultural productivity cannot be separated from the systems surrounding the farm.
The farm is the starting point, not the end point.
The Test Will Be at Farm Level
For farmers, the success of agricultural policy is ultimately measured in practical terms.
Can they access land?
Can they afford inputs?
Can they obtain financing?
Can they get water when rainfall is insufficient?
Can they protect their farms when heavy rain arrives?
Can they use machinery at a manageable cost?
Can they transport their harvest?
Can they find buyers?
Can they receive a price that covers their costs and leaves room for investment?
Those questions will determine whether Lagos' food-production ambitions translate into sustained agricultural growth.
The state has established infrastructure and programmes aimed at addressing several of these issues.
But the September 27 appeal from Ojo shows that farmers continue to see gaps between policy and conditions on the ground.
Their request for government officials to visit farms is therefore significant.
It is a call for agricultural policy to remain connected to the realities of production.
Conclusion
Lagos farmers are asking the state to look beyond agricultural targets and focus on the practical conditions that determine whether farms can produce consistently.
The call comes as Lagos seeks to increase the share of food consumed locally that is produced within the state from about 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
In Ojo, farmers say vegetables offer a particularly immediate opportunity because some crops can move from planting to harvest in roughly three weeks.
But they say that opportunity can only be fully exploited if farmers have access to land, finance, irrigation, machinery and transportation.
The state has already begun building infrastructure around the wider food system, including food hubs, storage facilities and logistics networks.
It is also promoting programmes designed to connect farmers with markets and improve agricultural financing and enterprise development.
The remaining challenge is integration.
More food must be produced.
More of it must survive the journey from farm to market.
Farmers must have reliable access to buyers.
Consumers must have access to food through efficient distribution systems.
And agricultural businesses must be able to invest with enough confidence to remain productive over time.
For Lagos, achieving a 50 per cent local-production share would therefore involve much more than expanding farmland.
It would require a coordinated food economy in which farmers, financiers, machinery providers, transport operators, processors, traders, government agencies and consumers are connected.
The experience of Ojo's vegetable farmers illustrates both the opportunity and the challenge.
The opportunity is a large nearby market and crops capable of producing relatively quickly.
The challenge is building the infrastructure and financial environment that allows farmers to take advantage of that market.
As Lagos continues to develop its food-system strategy, the response to those practical farm-level demands will be an important part of determining how much more food the state can produce for its own residents—and how effectively that food can move from the field to the table.
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