The Lagos State government has announced it has commenced talks with 10 major bakeries to ensure mass production of its Eko Bread, a loaf made from coconut.
The move, the government explained in a statement released yesterday by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr Fola Adeyemi, was aimed at providing more market avenues for coconut utilisation.
The statement said Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had, on Sunday, told the audience at the 7th Coconut Heritage Festival tagged Agunkefest that Nigeria was ranked 18th in the world as a coconut producing country, with Lagos State contributing 70 per cent of the total production.
Agunkefest was held at the Suntan Beach Front, Badagry, in collaboration with the African Coconut Heritage Initiatives to commemorate the 2018 World Coconut Day.
Ambode said his administration would continue to create the enabling environment for investments in coconut production, commercialization and utilization in the state.
Represented at the occasion by his Special Adviser on the Environment, Mr Babatunde Hunpe, Ambode said his administration placed a high premium on sustainable food production, which he described as the impetus driving the various activities in the agricultural sector.
“The coconut tree has been identified as the most useful single tree in the world in terms of versatility, product utilisation and longevity. Therefore, taking coconut to another level with this type of programme is long overdue.
“A major step taken towards achieving this goal is the establishment of the Lagos State Coconut Development Authority (LASCODA) to uphold the state’s comparative advantage in coconut production,” he said.
The governor added that the Model Coconut Processing Centre in Mowo, Badagry, had been fully rehabilitated and available for the training of prospective coconut processors and to provide services to existing processors at affordable cost.
He further disclosed that the state government had distributed coconut processing equipment to coconut processors in 12 local governments and local council development areas in the state as part of its empowerment programmes in the coconut value chain.
