The Lagos state government has commissioned two Eko Farmers Marts in Surulere and Ajah to ease the public access to fresh farm products and  farmers access to market.
The two Farmers Marts is a Public-Private Partnership initiative, commissioned by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, it is one of the initiatives of the state government put together to bring farm fresh food closer to the people of the state at a very reasonable prices in healthy environment.
The Commissioner revealed that the objectives of the marts are to ensure all year round access to supply of wholesome agricultural produce, to make agricultural produce available to consumers at affordable prices, to create over 10,000 permanent jobs across the agro-business value chain in collaboration with the private sector and to minimise problems of agricultural produce marketing occasioned by too many middlemen between farmers and consumers, among others.
Said he, “Without market access, our farmers face the problem of under pricing of their products and therefore, the intensity to produce is low. It is therefore our responsibility to assist our farmers so that they can get competitive prices for their products and the interest to produce more will be high.â€
Lawal stressed that during the suppliers period a lot of post-harvest losses occurred, which could be as high as 60 per cent for vegetables, and a lot of people are equally involved in bringing the produce from the local producers in hinterland to the market, saying transportation difficulty has also contributed negatively to the landing price of agricultural products.
