The Lagos State Government has launched the third edition of the Lagos Agrithon initiative, with a ₦200 million grant pool aimed at supporting young innovators developing solutions across the agriculture and food systems value chain.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, announced the launch during a press briefing, describing the initiative as part of the government’s commitment to building a sustainable food ecosystem driven by innovation, entrepreneurship, and youth participation.
Olusanya said the Lagos Agrinnovation Club and Lagos Agrithon were established out of the need to bridge the gap between the ideas of young innovators and the support required to transform those ideas into scalable businesses.
According to her, interactions with young people revealed that many had innovative solutions for agriculture and food systems but lacked access to mentorship, networks, market opportunities, and patient capital needed to grow their ideas.
She noted that while Lagos remains Nigeria’s innovation hub, there was a need to deliberately create a similar innovation ecosystem for agriculture, especially considering the state’s position as one of the country’s largest food markets.
The Commissioner explained that the transformation of the Ministry of Agriculture into the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems, the Lagos Food Systems Roadmap, the Produce for Lagos Programme, Lagos Agrinnovation Club and the Agrithon initiative were all designed to reposition agriculture as a complete economic system beyond farming.
She said the government recognises the importance of emerging areas such as food processing, logistics, cold chain, mechanisation, biotechnology, retail, food safety and digital agriculture in achieving food security.
Speaking on previous editions of the Agrithon, Olusanya said the initiative had helped several young entrepreneurs transform ideas into viable businesses, attract investments, create jobs and expand their operations.
“Over the past two editions, we have witnessed ideas evolve into viable businesses. We have seen young entrepreneurs attract additional investment, create jobs and expand their operations,” she said.
She stressed that Lagos Agrithon is not merely a grant distribution programme, but a carefully structured platform with a transparent selection process involving application screening, business assessments, pitch sessions, due diligence and technical reviews by experts.
Beyond funding, she added that participants would receive mentorship, enterprise development support and opportunities to connect with investors and strategic partners.
The Commissioner encouraged young innovators working in areas such as food production, processing, logistics, cold chain, climate resilience, food safety, retail and digital agriculture to apply.
She described food security and food sovereignty as critical to the future of nations, adding that Lagos has the opportunity to become the food systems innovation capital of Nigeria.
Olusanya also called on development partners, foundations, corporate organisations and impact investors to collaborate with the state government in expanding the ecosystem for food systems entrepreneurs.
She assured young innovators that the platform was created to support their ideas and help them develop solutions capable of transforming food systems in Lagos, Nigeria and across Africa.
On his part, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Emmanuel Audu, charged members of the Agrinnovation Club to inform the public that applications are now open for Agrithon 3.0 and highlight what the government intends to achieve through the initiative.
According to him, some of the winners and beneficiaries of the previous two editions of Agrithon have continued to contribute meaningfully by adding value to the agricultural value chains.
He also disclosed that Governor Sanwo-Olu is doing a lot across the agricultural value chains towards ensuring that food is available and affordable to all residents.
