When on December 27, 2023, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, took oath of office as Governor of Ondo State, he did not mince words as he assured the people of the state of continued progress and as well making their welfare topmost priority.
Aiyedatiwa, who had served both as deputy governor and acting governor before emergence as governor, promised, “This administration shall continue to advance the welfare of the people. We shall always place the people first in every decision we take”.
The sudden hike in prices of foodstuff across the country which came to compound the hardship that citizens were already facing following the May 29 removal of subsidy on premium motor spirit (also known as petrol) was among the first tests for the administration.
But Aiyedatiwa, who had promised to make the people’s welfare a priority and have been living to the billing, promptly rose to the occasion of the food crisis with a view of ensuring that the state, in the long run, attains sufficiency in food production.
The governor had at an event where he distributed food items, tricycles and agricultural implements including tillers to farmers, expressed concern over issues of rising costs of food.
Aiyedatiwa had stressed his administration’s commitment to regular interventions and activities towards alleviating sufferings and ensuring improved food supply”.
The governor, in a bid to ensure the residents can have value for their money, appealed to traders and other service providers to shun exploitative practices, harping on the need for empathy and compassion in business dealings.
He said, “I call on us all to refrain from shylock tendencies to exploit others, not minding the implication of such actions on the economy and people’s welfare. Specifically, I call on our Iyalojas, Babalajes, farmers associations, transport management bodies and all other production and trade organisations in Ondo State and Nigeria at large”.
The governor, who did not hesitate to constitute an Agriculture and Food Security Committee to work towards finding lasting solution to the matter at hand, assured that his administration would create an enabling conducive environment to farming activities.
He said, “We will explore various avenues to provide additional support to farmers, including expanding access to loans beyond the existing schemes. We aim to enhance agricultural productivity and ensure more sustainable growth in this vital sector.
“Agriculture serves as a cornerstone of our economy. Any administration that neglects the farming community risks its own downfall; farming transcends individual interests, it is a collective endeavor that impacts us all,” the governor said.
Aiyedatiwa also sees in agriculture an avenue for youths in the state to contribute to bolstering food production as well as become self-reliant, wealth creators thus reducing unemployment.
It was for these reasons that he deliberately designed training and empowerment programmes and policies to cater for the interest of the younger generation.
The governor, who applied a multi-pronged approach to tackle the issue of hunger and ensure food security in the state, consequently approved a N2b intervention fund for food security among other initiatives.
The governor moved swiftly in a bid to revive moribund farm estates, give lifts to farmers to boost productivity and as well put in place machineries to facilitate movement of foodstuffs from the farms and rural areas to the urban areas.
The Commissioner for Information, Wale Akinlosotu, said the Aiyedatiwa administration has taken various calculated steps targeted at bringing down the high prices of foodstuffs and as well ensure abundant food production and supply through various interventions.
The interventions, the commissioner said, included palliative measures, distribution of farm implements, seedlings and inputs to farmers, encouraging people particularly youth to go into farming, motivating people to embrace home garden and as well providing social amenities and facilities including roads, water and electricity supply in the rural areas.
Akinlosotu said, “The government is doing a lot in the agriculture and food security aspect. The expectation is to drive down the cost of food, to make food accessible and available to people.
“The Governor Aiyedatiwa administration is executing its short term, medium and long term plans to combat high foodstuff price and the attendant effects on the populace and moving from there to ensure increased food production in the farms.
“The short term plan has to do with the palliatives, i.e temporary measures. Most of the palliatives were delivered from the Federal Government.
“There is another Thursday Market initiative as a medium term at the Ministry of Agriculture where farmers bring their wares directly to sell to the consumers cutting out middlemen and in turn saving money for the people.
“Farmers sell directly different things like eggs, vegetables tomatoes etc. and consumers in the process save money that would have gone to the middlemen. The market is located in the Ministry of Agriculture in Akure”.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Olayato Aribo who spoke on the long-term plans at a post-EXCO briefing some months back, disclosed that Governor Aiyedatiwa had approved N2billion as additional intervention fund “to enhance food security and cushion effects of economic challenges for the people of the state.
Aribo said that aside the ongoing Thursday markets where the people can buy cheap food items, also spoke of the Sunday market billed to force downward the prices of food items and provide relief from the high costs in the regular markets.
He said, “We are starting with those ones and we’ll later extend it to other cities and local government headquarters. Rice, beans and garri etc will be sold at reasonable and subsidized prices for the people.
The commissioner said that the approval covers various initiatives including clearing of lands and provision of farming equipment, adding, “We have identified land across various local government areas and we have also identified dams and water board across the state”.
Aribo said that over that 4,500 youths had been trained in modern agriculture practices and as well empowered through the various youth development programmes.
He said, “Some of our youths have been empowered because we discovered that there is a gap between our old farmers and young farmers. The youths are losing interest in farming, so we are making efforts to revive their interest and encourage them.
“We are training them and also empowering them. Currently, we encourage young farmers to bring their produce to the ministry to sell directly to consumers, we hold this event on Thursdays,” Aribo said.
The Commissioner for information, Akinlosotu, who gave a breakdown, said that the governor gave approval of N1b for establishment of Sunday Market where government would sell directly to consumers at discounted rate.
“It is for the purchase of foodstuff like rice, beans, garri to sell directly to the masses. Right now, we are test running in three senatorial locations – one in the North, one in the South, one in the Central Senatorial District, and eventually, we will roll it out in all the 18 local governments.
“The approval of the other N1b was for cultivating or clearing of lands. We all know that the biggest cost or the biggest expense of any farmer is land clearing. So the government is helping in that area to help the genuine farmers who want to farm. Once we are able to help them to clear their lands, then planting becomes easy”.
The commissioner added that as part of efforts to make farming easy for the farmers as a way of encouragement and to boost production, the Aiyedatiwa administration had been distributing farm tools and agricultural inputs including seedlings to farmers.
Akinlosotu said that beyond these, the Aiyedatiwa was giving the necessary encouragement to farmers as support to them to increase the yields from their farms.
He said, “We have distributed a lot of farm inputs, different farm inputs – seedlings, cocoa seedlings to farmers for planting. This same thing is applicable to fertilisers. We also distributed tricycles to help farmers move their wares from the rural areas to the urban centres for sale.
“At present, it is because of the scarcity of food items that food prices are increasing. For example, we are encouraging students, we are encouraging people to start gardening in their yards. You can be a subsistence farmer whereby you grow your tomato, you grow your vegetables, onion, corn, etc.
“We are encouraging subsistence farming so that every family will be able to feed themselves. If every family is able to feed themselves with what they plant, that means their money will be in their pockets, they not have to go to the markets to buy and definitely, prices will be driven down at the markets.
“We are giving support to fish farmers, giving support to crop farmers and the different farmers and in Ondo State, the governor has put in place enabling environment where serious farmers can thrive.
“This is as the state government is paying undiluted attention to construction and rehabilitation of rural and farmland roads in its infrastructural development policy. This is to aid movement of foodstuffs from the farms to urban areas”.
Akinlosotu said that in a bid to facilitate construction of rural and farmland roads, the Aiyedatiwa administration had paid the state’s counterpart funds to Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP).
The Director General, Ondo RAAMP, Adeniyi Adelabu, lauded the governor for honouring his promise to establish road links between rural areas and urban centres to boost agriculture and food security.
Recall that RAAMP, in August began construction of 10.9km Idanre – Obajare Road in Idanre in the Idanre Local Government area.
Speaking during the flag-off of construction of the road, Aiyedatiwa had said, “It is our resolve that the government must, of necessity, do more in the rural areas of Ondo State and address the economic gap across the state through the provision of basic infrastructures”.
The governor had said that the project was made possible by the government’s consistent payment of counterpart funds for RAAMP in conjunction with the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the World Bank and French Development Agency.
Aiyedatiwa had said that his government was planning to establish agro-logistic centres across the three senatorial centres of the state to further support the agricultural value chain.
The governor, who called for close monitoring of the contractors handling rural roads to ensure quality works, said, “The fact that these roads have been in a deplorable state for many years makes it imperative that the ongoing intervention must be carried out to the expected threshold of standard. This hopefully, will achieve a win-win situation for the state, the rural dwellers and the contractors”.
The people of Ondo State, particularly the farmers, have not been hiding their appreciation to the governor and the state government for the supports and lifts they have been receiving and their expected improved yield from the farms.
The senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture and Agribusiness, who is the Chairman, Committee on Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Rotimi Wemimo, praised the governor for his unwavering support for the agriculture sector.
The Chairman, All Sunshine Youth Agricultural Employment Association, Femi Eniola, appreciated the state government for taking proactive steps to curb food insecurity.
Eniola, who spoke at an interactive session with the state government, however, appealed to the Aiyedatiwa administration to design more programmes that would benefit youths in agriculture.
Also the President, Ondo State Farmers’ Congress, Mr Monilari Abayomi, commended the governor’s initiatives aimed at boosting agricultural productivity and ensuring food security in the state.
Abayomi, who spoke during a meeting of Governor Aiyedatiwa with the Farmers’ Congress, emphasized the need for continued partnership between government and farmers to cultivate a prosperous future for the state.
The Congress leader hailed ongoing construction and rehabilitation of rural roads to connect them to urban centres, saying “this has the potential to facilitate seamless transportation of farm produce to markets”.
Also, some farmers, appreciative of the ongoing intervention in the abandoned farm settlements, hailed the governor for prioritizing farming as an essential occupation in the state.
The farmers, in a communique at the end of their meeting signed on their behalf by Alhaji Abdukabir Adinoyi and Mr Francis Akingbade, said the move to revive farm settlement would boost productivity in the state.
The Information Commissioner, Akinlosotu, who said the state government would continue to build on efforts to turn Ondo State to a food basket and envy of other states as far as food security and agro business were concerned, called for more support for the government.
The commissioner reiterated the Aiyedatiwa administration’s commitment to improving the lives of the people in all possible ways.
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