Afe Babalola rewards 48 farmers with cash gifts, charges FG on agriculture

THE founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) has empowered 48 farmers operating in Ekiti State with cash gifts to boost food production as part of this year’s annual Afe Babalola Agriculture Expo.

The 2018 beneficiaries are 32 more than the 16 farmers that received the legal luminary’s seasonal morale-boosting reward for a good performance in agriculture, at the Afe Babalola Agric Expo (ABA-Ex).

Chief Babalola, who was represented on the occasion by the Vice Chancellor of ABUAD, Professor Michael Ajisafe, also challenged the federal government to allocate more funds to agriculture so as to attract young people and help in curtailing the level of poverty and hunger in the country.

He said the beneficiaries were drawn from the 16 local government areas of the state and added that the best farmer this year would go home with N1million.

According to him, he decided to support farming based on his belief that agriculture remained the best weapon Ekiti could deploy to banish poverty and hunger among the populace.

He said: “In the last three editions, only 16 farmers were given financial rewards and supports. This year, 48 will benefit.

“The best farmer will get N1 million reward while three farmers from each of the 16 councils will go home with N300,000 each while others will get between N50,000 and N250,000 cash prices to boost food production for our people.”

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The Chairman of the local organizing committee for the agriculture festival and Provost, Social and Management Sciences, Prof. Adeolu Durotoye, stated that the gesture further underscored how committed the ABUAD’s founder had been in ensuring that poverty is completely eradicated in Ekiti.

Durotoye challenged Ekiti government to provide counterpart funding for the programme, being solely financed by Babalola, so that beneficiaries of the largesse can be increased to encourage more people into farming.

He said the ABAEX scheme would not only provide a veritable platform for farmers to have access to funds but would expose them to modern techniques and opportunities for credit facilities.

“This is because stakeholders like the bank of industry and Central Bank of Nigeria have been invited to interact with the farmers and expose them to several loan facilities they can access as farmers.

“While the 2017 edition was on Rice Summit, this year we are having Moringa Summit. We conducted an evaluation and assessment of 187 farms across the 16 local governments to know those who were actually qualified for cash rewards, this is based on dedication and, commitment to farming.

“It is our pleasure to announce that those who benefited in 2017 have ventured into new areas of agribusiness, while some have expanded their existing farmlands courtesy of the financial support from Chief Afe Babalola,” he said.

In her lecture, Dr Akangbe described Moringa as having limitless opportunities that can be tapped if farmers could specialize in its cultivation.

The university teacher from the Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition Unit, Department of Animal Science, University of Ibadan, stated that the nutritional and economic values of the plant can’t be quantified as well as its medicinal values, urging Ekiti farmers to embrace the crop and make good use of it.

“This is a plant I had carried out various tests on. Its leaves, stems and roots are highly medicinal. It is a good drug supplement that can treat any heart-related ailments, kidney problem, Osteoporosis, prostate cancer, arthritis and many others.

“The two breeds available in Nigeria: Moringa Oleifera and M. Stenopetala are underexploited and their therapeutic and fuel values if harnessed can take farming to another height in this country like in India and Pakistan,” she said.