OGUN State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has restated his administration’s commitment towards ensuring that farmers in the state were empowered to produce enough food to attain self-sufficiency.
Abiodun stated this while speaking at the opening ceremony of this year’s Nigeria Poultry Show with the theme: ‘Managing the Value Chain for National Development’ held at the DLK Event Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Mrs Noimot Salako-Oyedele, said that one of the priorities of his administration was to make the state a net exporter of food, adding that if this is achieved, food security would be guaranteed and employment of the teeming youths would be a reality.
In order to achieve the plan, according to the governor, a meeting was held with President Muhammadu Buhari, where the President in his bid to support the State’s food security agenda mandated the governor of the Central Bank to support Ogun State with the Anchor Borrower’s Programme.
“We have started the Anchor Borrower’s Programme with rice, cassava and maize. We will get to poultry, aquaculture and other sectors of the Agric industry. I believe these are what we could look forward to.
“Other programmes that our government is doing in agriculture include holding of stakeholders meeting with all farmers within all the agricultural value chains, payment of the counterpart funding and the inauguration of FADAMA GUYS, which is a graduate unemployment youth scheme that would complement our plans in this sector,” he said.
The governor added that in order to enhance the value chain, the Investment Promotion Council was set up and the Public Private Partnership (PPP) bill was also put in place for people to come in to the State to invest.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Ogun State, Abosede Ogunleye, in her goodwill message, said the theme of this year’s Nigeria Poultry Show was apt, as it addressed how farmers could connect to the value chain which is the first step that would offer a path leading to economic development.
