No fewer than 469 farmers under the Ogun Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, have been provided with agricultural inputs to further boost farming activities in the state.
Dr Adeola Odedina, Commissioner for Agriculture, made this known while inaugurating the distribution at the State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP) in Idi Aba, Abeokuta, on Wednesday.
Odedina said the phase was in collaboration with the state government, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
The commissioner, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Dotun Sorunke, gave the assurance that government would not relent in assisting farmers in terms of training, innovation, mechanisation and extension services, among others.
“It is indeed another demonstration of the Gov. Dapo Abiodun-led administration’s resolve to revamp the agricultural sector.
“Apart from these inputs, we are also supporting them with training, innovation, mechanisation as well as extension services so they can get the expected yield.
“We will continue to leverage on the opportunities provided by CBN and other development partners,” he said.
Also speaking, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture, Dr Angel Adelaja-Kuye, maintained that the state would continue to collaborate with development partners to enhance capacity of the farmers.
She added that the state governor vowed to make everything possible to ensure that farmers had all they needed to be connected to inputs, land and other support services.
Mrs Oluyemisi Olukoya, Head, Development Finance, CBN, gave an assurance that the scheme would soon be extended to other commodities, urging farmers to work toward timely repayment, so that other farmers could benefit.
“Apart from the distribution, we have been aggregating list of farmers’ cooperatives, under the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and those that are not part of the association have also been well coordinated and registered to also benefit,” she said.
Also Mr Olusegun Dasaolu, Chairman, AFAN, who was represented by the Youth President of the association, Mr Olorunshola Osasona, appreciated the government for facilitating the inputs, urging his colleagues to make good use of them.
The inputs distributed include, herbicides, different sizes of maize seedlings, pesticides and fertilisers, among others.
