Ekiti State Governor Biodun Oyebanji has said his administration’s efforts are geared towards promoting farming activities and spurring youths’ interest in commercial agriculture.
The governor, who noted the widespread food shortage experienced nationwide and globally this year, restated his plan for massive food production in 2025.
He stated this while disbursing cheques worth N140 million to youths engaged in commercial agriculture for the first batch of their harvest.
The young farmers were drawn from the state’s six farm clusters under the state government’s “Bring Back the Youth in Agriculture” programme, which is in partnership with YSJ Farms Limited.
Presenting the cheques to the young farmers in Ado—Ekiti, the Governor assured the youths that he was already liaising with investors who would provide tractors for hire to boost their production capacity effectively.
He stressed that the state government’s strategy is not to buy tractors but to create an enabling environment for investors to bring tractors to the state to lease to farmers.
Governor Oyebanji called on the people to support the zeal of the government to reposition agriculture and improve on the food security agenda of the government and desist from constituting themselves as a clog in the wheel of progress in the sector.
He told the excited youths that his government had injected N300 million into the state’s economy in the last 48 hours, which he said was in line with the shared prosperity and wealth creation agenda.
The youths were tasked with making judicious use of the money to effectively implement the initiative’s aims and objectives by ploughing back some of their proceeds into next year’s agriculture season with the hope of favourable weather.
Governor Oyebanji, who hailed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the financial support to the state, said that with the support of the president, efforts are in top gear to build Renewed Hope Farm settlements in all the farm clusters in the state.
“If we are going to develop agriculture and create wealth, we must be extremely deliberate about our procurement process. On Saturday, I was in Oke Ako, and we distributed about N160 million compensation to farmers whose lands were taken over six months ago, and the crops planted then are already being harvested.”