Restructuring panacea to agricultural development — Ondo govt

Special Assistant to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Agric and Agribusiness, Pastor Akin Olotu, has identified restructuring as the panacea to all the challenges confronting the country, especially insecurity and economic challenges, saying this would help to develop agriculture.

Olotu who made this call in Akure, while speaking with newsmen, asked the Federal Government to transmit more power to the federating units to enable them to provide for the needs of the people at the grassroots.

According to him, any fund meant for agriculture should be rooted through the state to the farmers, while urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to give priority to agriculture in order to restore the old glory of the country in farming.

He also advised the federal government to initiate a fully coordinated security operation, to flush out bandits and allow the farmers to return to their farmlands.

He said government at all levels must put more effort into the development of cash crops, such as cocoa, cashew, saying this would make tremendous impact on the economy.

He said “We have a lot of benefits from these cocoa, cashew, sheer-butter among others because they are exportable. So we need forests and this is the critical area the federal government needs to look into.

“So if we develop cocoa, cashew, and the value chain locally, there will be a tremendous impact on the economy.

“And it will create a lot of jobs for the people, the crime rate will go down, and we will have a lot of foreign exchange in a sustainable way. There should be equal attention to tree crops because we need forests.

“There must be an immediate and conscious effort to promote all these crops in the country. It is a matter of necessity, it is not something that should be delayed, it can be treated the way the issue of fuel subsidy was treated.

“So the solution to our problem in this country is power devolution, let us reduce the load at the federal level so that people can thrive. For us to do it successfully, we need adequate security. All governors have agreed that we should have a state police. The people at the National Assembly should be sincere with all of us on this. So if we are to move forward in this country, there must be a power devolution.

“If farmers are secured today, I can tell you that we will be self-sufficient in foods in Ondo. The security architecture of this country is not working at all and the problem is from the National Assembly. We need a system that is working, and until we go back to that, there won’t be a way forward.”

The Special Assistant explained that cashew had become a national commodity that grows across the 36 states of the federation, with cocoa in second place in terms of foreign exchange earnings to the economy.

He noted that several investors have shown interest in the state’s agricultural projects, leading to the establishment of large-scale farms, agro-processing facilities, and partnerships with local farmers, saying six investors are doing exceedingly well and the impact would be felt in the next couple of years.

Olotu said “So the ‘Red Gold Project’, which is a major agricultural initiative being implemented by the Ondo State government to promote the cultivation and processing of oil palm in the state, is a big success.

“We are developing the ‘Red Gold Project’. Oil palm is another major cash crop in Ondo, with an estimated production of 30 metric tons per hour, is a big revolution that has taken place in the State.”

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