Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, on Monday, said the state had disbursed over N99 million to 583 farmers of the state under the commercial agricultural credit scheme, while N9.109 million had been given to 19 Rice production groups and N6.511 million to 9 Cassava production groups across the state in the FADAMA III Additional Finance scheme.
Ajimobi, who disclosed this at an event held at House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan, to commemorate the World Food Day, said the disbursements were targeted at transforming the lot of peasant farmers in the state.
Speaking in the same light, he said 333 residents had got credit facilities in the Rural Finance Institution Programme while 27,000 secondary school students were being imparted with the need to embrace agriculture under the schools agricultural programme.
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Ajimobi who was represented by his deputy, Mr Moses Adeyemo, added that the state facilitated the distribution of 100,000 seedlings of Gmelina and 10,000 seedlings of Teak, 1,500,000 new hybrid cocoa, 20,000 Tenera oil palm and 20,000 Brazilian cashew seedlings to farmers.
He specially urged the beneficiaries to efficiently utilize the loan facilities of government, though he bemoaned that some beneficiaries were yet to repay their loans, after over three years.
On the extent to which the state had reached her targets for the Oyo State Agricultural Initiative, tagged, “Agric Oyo”, Ajimobi said 200 hectares of maize, 466 hectares of cassava, 280 hectares of rice and 20 hectares of vegetables were cultivated.
He stated that the state had recorded 400 metric tons of Maize and 9,320 metric tons of cassava yield from what was cultivated in the Agric Oyo scheme.
In his speech on the day’s theme, “Change the future of migration: Invest in food security and rural development”, Executive Director, Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Ibadan, Professor James Adediran, lamented the negative effects of increasing rural-urban migration on agricultural production.
He said the nation utilized less than 40 percent of its 80 percent arable land, and failed to optimise the ability of the agricultural sector to provide employment, generate income and reduce poverty.
Adediran prayed that government focuses on breeding agricultural entrepreneurs, equipping agricultural research centres, making curricula of educational institutions relevant to agriculture and entrepreneurship, and developing financial institutions, promoting non governmental organizations to support training and mentorship programmes for emerging entrepreneurs.
State Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Mr Oyewole Oyewumi, remarked that the state focused on sustainable agricultural development by creating credit facilities for farmers, organising capacity building, empowerment programmes for the youths and women, and opening up rural roads.
Oyewumi represented by Special Adviser to Governor Ajimobi on Agriculture, Professor Segun Adekunle, said the state was addressing post-harvest losses and boosting extension services.
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