Lagos State has set out a plan to turn its food economy, valued at ₦16.14 trillion a year, into the largest food systems operation in Sub-Saharan Africa, anchored by a logistics hub in Epe scheduled for partial commissioning before the end of 2026. According to TTYBrand Africa, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Abisola Olusanya, unveiled the strategy at the 2026 ministerial press briefing, framing it as a shift away from fragmented farming projects toward a connected chain covering storage, transport, processing, distribution, retail and digital trading.
The Epe Hub and Its Numbers
The centrepiece is the Lagos Central Food Systems and Logistics Hub in Ketu-Ereyun, Epe. TTYBrand Africa reported that the facility is designed to process more than 1.5 million metric tonnes of food annually and handle over 1,500 trucks every day, with cold and dry storage systems, quality control laboratories, processing centres, digital trading platforms, truck parks and modern warehouses built in to cut food waste and steady prices. The first phase will be commissioned later this year, with the government describing the project as a complete food systems architecture rather than a set of isolated interventions.
Why Lagos Is Building It
Nigeria's structural food gap explains the urgency. CNBC Africa, citing World Trade Organization figures, reported that Nigeria's food imports reached $6.1 billion in 2023 against food exports of just $2.2 billion, a trade deficit that lays bare how far domestic production and processing lag demand. With a population of roughly 238 million in 2025 projected to reach 411 million by 2050, the gap between what the country grows and what it eats is widening, and a single port-city corridor moving 1,500 trucks a day is a direct attempt to compress the logistics costs that ride on every food item sold in Lagos.
Produce for Lagos and the Offtake Fund
Alongside the hub, the state has introduced the Produce for Lagos initiative and a ₦500 billion Offtake Guarantee Fund, which TTYBrand Africa reported is meant to reduce investment risk for farmers, aggregators, investors and logistics operators while building a more structured market for produce. The state is also courting private capital into aquaculture, greenhouse farming, cold-chain systems and digital agriculture.
What Already Exists
The plan builds on infrastructure Lagos already runs. The Imota Rice Mill, regarded as the largest rice mill in Africa, produced more than 500,000 bags of Eko Rice during the review period, according to TTYBrand Africa, while more than 66,000 people have benefited from state agricultural support programmes since May 2025.
For a city where transport and storage costs are baked into the price of almost every staple, infrastructure that shortens the distance between farm and market is the variable most likely to move retail prices. FoodPrices Nigeria tracks verified prices across markets including Mile 12, Oyingbo, Daleko and Lekki-Jakande, and will be watching whether the Epe hub translates into measurable relief once its first phase comes online.