The Commissioner for Agriculture, Lagos State, Miss Abisola Olusanya has claimed that the state government is working hard to regulate food prices in the state.
She stated that it was not that food was not available but the disposable income of individuals had diminished, which was the real issue.
“For now as a state government, we understand where our challenges are and we understand where our competitive advantage is,” she continued.
“If you focus on production only and you do not have an organised market, you might have an affordability issue which is what is going on, our markets are not regulated,” she said.
Olusanya stated that the gasoline market, for example, was controlled in the sense that all of its transactions were documented.
“You cannot say the same for food, which is why middle men will take advantage and place prices and margins on food that has been produced by famers.”
“They push it to us at prices that we cannot afford, which is why as state government, we are working on organising our markets to ensure we can work and start price regulation.”
She went on to say that the Lagos State administration was putting in a lot of effort into it and urged other states to follow suit.
