BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The Osun State Government on Tuesday, distributed 100,000 cocoa seedlings, agro-chemicals, hand-spraying tools, limes and other farm inputs to about 1,000 farmers across the Local Government Areas of the state.
The government also inaugurated Osun Broilers Outgrowers Production Scheme III to enhance the capacity of the livestock production and turn around the fortune of the scheme to be more profitable and attractive to farmers in the state.
Farmers in each of the LGAs across the state got 1,500 cocoa seedlings, with priority given to the cocoa producing LGAs of the state.
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola said government’s efforts were geared towards actualising its set objectives to reposition agriculture and make Osun the food basket of the nation in general and Southwest in particular.
He added that the initiative was designed to support farmers and cushion the effects of the erratic weather that occurred last year, which resulted in prolonged drought and flooding in different parts of the state.
Distributing the hundreds of thousands of the farm inputs freely to farmers at the Agriculture Demonstration Centre, Aisu, in Ede South LGA, Gov Oyetola pointed out that the initiative was aimed at actualising the agricultural revolution agenda of the government.
The distribution of cocoa seedlings and other agricultural inputs, he explained, was part of the Administration’s determined quest at revamp the state’s economy through the Cocoa Revitalisation Programme.
Oyetola who reiterated government’s commitment to turning Osun into the food hub of the Southwest, said policies had been tailored towards ensuring adequate availability of fertile land, good roads, relatively good rainfall pattern and above all to ensure peaceful coexistence between the herdsmen and the farmers.
The Governor further emphasised that the initiative would help to boost the agricultural sector, thus supporting the systematic replacement of the existing old cocoa plantations and other permanent crops with improved high-yielding varieties which required quick government interventions to turn Osun into the largest cocoa producer in Southwest Nigeria.
The beneficiaries lauded the administration for continuously prioritising agriculture to retain its position as the mainstay of the state’s economy.
