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Farmers at Mokore village, in Ayedaade Local Government Council Area of Osun State, were thrown into joyous mood on Thursday, as the governor of the state, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, allocated 50 hectares of virgin farmland, which had just been opened up by the government to them.
The virgin land, which was allocated to farmers free-of-charge had already been cleared and prepared by the state government, before they were handed over to the benefiting farmers.
The land was in a thick forest zone of Mokore Farm Settlement, before it was cleared by the government.
Originally, the state Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, had informed the farmers that they would pay N37,000 for the allocation fees, but the governor, while allocating the land on the farm, declared that no money should be collected from any of the farmers.
The governor, who reiterated the commitment of his administration to ensure massive food production in the state, said, the newly allocated land was targeted at planting food, saying that, whoever refuses to make use of the farm as expected by the government among the beneficiaries, would have his portion withdrawn and allocated to another person.
Accompanied to the newly-allocated farm by the entire Executive Council members of the state and the Olufi of Gbongan, Oba Adetoyese Oyeniyi, Aregbesola stated that the farmers would be assisted with whatever materials they need to make farming in the area comfortable, as well as making their stay comfortable and create wealth for them.
He stated further that the allocation of the land was a pilot to the massive food production programmes of the present administration, under the Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programme (OREAP), to tell the world that the government was serious about the programme.
Speaking at a reception in Mokore Village, after allocating the land to the farmers, the governor condemned how the Federal Government is using N600 billion to import food into the country, inspite of the fertile land the state and the country in general was blessed with, describing the situation as shameful.
According to him, 60 percent of the Integral Action Plan of his administration relates directly with the farmers, saying that with the agricultural programme of the government, those in urban areas would be willing to return to farm.
The governor, who described farmers as kings, said that the allocation of farmlands to farmers free-of-charge was a tip of what the government has in the offing for the farmers, saying that the intervention was not for any election, but for the betterment of the future of the present and the incoming generations.
Aregbesola emphasized that as big as the late Obafemi Awolowo programmes on agriculture, the agricultural programme of his administration would be ten times bigger.
In his speech, the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Honourable Wale Adedoyin, revealed that farmers have started enjoying assistance from the government, especially in the area of improved seeds, seedlings, fertilizers, tractorisation, herbicides, agricultural credit and land clearing, among others, in four out of nine farm settlements in the state, for the first phase of the programme.
He also stated that works had also commenced on the construction of rural roads, to ease transportation for the people in the rural areas, adding that the governor had approved a sum of N255 million, as counterpart fund for the Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) of the World Bank.
In his own address, the Chairman, Ayedaade Local Government Caretaker Committee, Evangelist Nathaniel Arabambi, promised that the council authority would continue to provide necessary assistance to the farmers in line with the quest of Aregbesola's administration to banish hunger in the state.
Osun Defender