S’West govs promise to ensure food security

The South-West Governors, on Wednesday, agreed to strengthen farm security by creating specialised units within the Amotekun corps.

This was part of the resolutions reached at the roundtable on food security hosted by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Present at the meeting were the five commissioners for agriculture from Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo: Ebenezer Boluwade, Bolu Owotomo, Olayato Aribo, Babatola Faseru, and Olasunkanmi Olaleye respectively, while Mr Emmanuel Audu, the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture represented the state commissioner.

In his opening remarks, the Director-General of the commission, Seye Oyeleye said, “It is important to dispel unfounded rumours that the region has lost its capacity to produce its food.”

He, therefore, urged the commissioners to come up with the recommendations that the state governors can easily implement “within the next few months.”

The statement added that other resolutions reached at the meeting were geared towards boosting agriculture, “These include massive land clearing, enhanced security, and large-scale production of short-term crops like maize, sweet potatoes, and vegetables. Other plans include revitalizing moribund dams for irrigation, improving mechanization across the value chain, adopting a cluster farming model, expanding input distribution, and establishing an electronic agriculture database.”

Other participants at the meeting include Dr. Theophilus Onadeko, the recently appointed Managing Director of the Southwest Agriculture Company, SWAgCo, a subsidiary of the Odu’a Investment Company Limited and Chief Kola Akosile from NACCIMA.