Egg Sellers Lauds Lagos' New Agege Food Hub, Seeks Partnership

News in Brief

— Egg sellers and distributors have commended the new Agege Fresh Food Hub but want its members formally included in egg supply to the facility.

— The association is asking for official supplier status, dedicated cold-room and processing space, and priority contracts for school feeding programmes at the food hubs.

The Eggs Sellers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (ESDAN) has commended the Lagos State Government for opening the Agege Fresh Food Hub, but wants its members included in supplying eggs to the facility.

ESDAN's National President, Mrs Olaide Graham, appealed in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Third Hub in Lagos' Food Network

The Agege facility, commissioned by Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is the third of its kind in Lagos State. It follows the Fresh Food Hub in Mushin, commissioned in December 2023, and the Abijo hub, commissioned earlier this year. The hubs are designed to shorten food supply chains, cut out unnecessary middlemen, improve produce handling and make distribution more efficient across the state.

Graham praised the initiative, describing it as more than a market.

"We at ESDAN congratulate the Lagos State Government, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems on the launch of the Agege food hub. It is a great initiative. This is more than a market; it is a job, it is food, it is the future," she said.

Association Wants Formal Supplier Role

Despite the commendation, Graham said ESDAN was invited to the commissioning but was not contracted to supply eggs for the event. She noted that the eggs displayed at the hub during the launch came from farmers, not from ESDAN.

"We were at the commissioning of the Agege Food Hub, but we don't know if we will be contracted to supply at the hub as an association. We noticed all the eggs displayed at the hub during the commissioning were supplied by farmers. They didn't ask ESDAN to bring eggs," she said.

She described eggs as one of Nigeria's most affordable sources of complete protein and said the association wants to work directly with the government to widen access.

ESDAN Lists Three Key Requests

Graham said ESDAN members could guarantee daily egg supply to the hub, along with quality assurance, traceability and data useful for state food security planning. She listed three specific requests to government:

"Our request to the government is tripartite: we want to be designated with Official Supplier Status as the preferred supplier of the hubs. We desire dedicated spaces, cold rooms and processing facilities for the association at the hub. We also want contract priority for supplying all school feeding and institutional buyers with eggs," she said.

Graham said ESDAN wants to be carried alongside farmers in supplying the food hubs as the association is experienced in absorbing excess eggs during glut seasons due to its capacity to handle bulk supply.

"We have been invited previously to mop up eggs during glut seasons. So, we believe we are capable enough to handle the supply of eggs at food hubs. This will, in turn, boost and enhance the value chain of the poultry subsector. We are open to having conversations with the government to professionally supply the produce to the hubs," she said. 

Lagos Food Hubs Could Solve Seasonal Egg Gluts

Lagos State's expanding food hubs present a suitable, well-structured infrastructure to solve supply chain problems that cause most of the post-harvest losses Nigerian agriculture suffers.

With Nigeria's poultry sector continuing to grapple with recurring seasonal egg gluts, forcing farmers to sell below cost due to limited storage and processing infrastructure, these structured hubs present a great opportunity for poultry farmers.

Egg sellers' associations like ESDAN have previously called for more coordinated federal and state support to prevent post-harvest losses in the segment, a concern that mirrors the broader push behind Lagos' fresh food hub initiative.