Ogun State Government says it has allocated 8, 550 hectares of land to private sector in the agricultural sector to boost food production, under the reform initiative of the Prince Dapo Abiodun's administration in the past five years
The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Hon. Bolu Owotomo who revealed this on Tuesday, during 2024 Annual Pre-season Meeting and Produce Stakeholders Forum organized by his ministry held at the Valley-view auditorium of Government House in Isale-Igbein, Abeokuta, the State capital, also disclosure that over 4,000 hectares of the land were used for mechanized farming by farmers in groups/clusters
The Commissioner speaking on the theme of the Pre-season Meeting, " The Future of Cash Crops In Ogun State:Land Availability, Youth Engagement and Climate Change Mitigation", said that the current administration through its reform policy launched in the agriculture sector, was able to address the challenges facing cash crops industries, including climate change, high cost of production, land availability and access to finance the business
The State according to him, is doing so much to develop Agric sector through sundry farming, food processing and marketing initiatives
Owotomo stressed the need to re-awaken productivity in the scheduled crops including Cocoa, Palm-kernel, Cashew-nuts, Rubber and Cotton amongst others
He added that the State Government in collaboration with the Federal Government distributed 24,000 fertilizers to 12,000 farmers free of charge to boost food production, in addition to empowerment of over 3,000 farmers with different farm inputs under the Ogun N- Cares in July, 2023
The Commissioner listed others support given so far to farmers to ensure food security to include distribution of planting materials to 150 Cassava Women Farmers in the state in collaboration with National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) in September, 2023 and distribution of 29 solar powered irrigation pond to farmers to support dry season rice and vegetables production in wetland areas of the State in November, 2023
He recalled that his ministry distributed N50 million to Ijebu Development Initiative and Poverty Reduction and distributed farming inputs to 2,500 farmers at 50% subsidized rate amongst others
Earlier, the Director of Produce in the ministry, Mr.Adedeji Somade urged the State Government to provide the department with patrol vehicles for effective field monitoring saying the current fleet is old and prone to frequent precaution 
"I will like to draw attention to the fact that our grading inputs such as moisture meters, secateurs, sealing stamps, and pest control equipment like motorized and knapsack sprayer are old and insufficient "
"I am reassuring that our dedication to duty and revenue generation drive will be sustained with continue support from government ", he assured
Also the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs Kehinde Jokotoye urged the participants including produce farmers to make good use of knowledge acquired at the event by ensuring massive food production using the cutting edge technology
The State Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Chief (Mrs) Adeoye Kusimo, Chairman of Cocoa Farmers Association, Chief Sesan Sowunmi in their separate remarks, lauded the support given so far by government to farmers to ensure massive production
The State Chairman of Rubber Farmers Association, Mr Dele Mark-Daniel however called on government to give the needed support to encourage rubber plantations , listing several businesses opportunities within the value chain of the rubber plantation
High point of the event included presentation of awards to Agro-Processing and other Agro-Allied companies, outstanding staff of the ministry and Produce Inspectors
No comments:
Post a Comment