ADEOLA BADRU FROM VANGUARD
No fewer than 1,545 farmers that were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, have received agricultural inputs in 19 out of the 33 local government areas in Oyo State state as a support from the Governor ‘Seyi Makinde.
The distribution of the agricultural inputs to beneficiaries in the 19 council areas was carried out by the Oyo-Ncares in partnership with the World Bank under the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) in line with the vision of the governor.
Speaking with journalists in Oluyole Local Government during the last phase of the distribution to the 19 selected LGAs in the state, the state coordinator for Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus,(N-Cares) Result Area 2, Mr. Kolawole Adewumi Bamigbola, noted that 1,545 farmers have received different types of agricultural inputs based on their farming categories in 19 LGAs out of the 33 LGAs we have in the state.
Mr. Kolawole in his breakdown analysis gave the names of the 19 LGAs covered so far in the distributions as Iwajowa LG (100 farmers); Oluyole LG(70 farmers), Ibarapa North LG (60 farmers), Ibarapa central LG(50 farmers) Ibarapa East LG (100 farmers), Lagelu LG -70, Ido – 90, Iseyin -80, Oorelope – 70, Oyo East – 80, Olorunsogo – 170, Saki East – 65, Oriire – 100, Kajola – 80, Ogbomosho South-90, Surulere – 70, Egbeda – 70, Atiba – 100, Ona-Ara – 20.
Kolawole said: “All these beneficiaries comprises casava farmers, maize farmers, rice and tomatoes farmers.”
He also noted that the state sponsored Youth Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project, YEAP beneficiaries were carried along in the distributions exercise that cut across all the 19 LGAs so far.
In his words, Kolawole further said: “All our beneficiaries should count this as a privilege and utilize these inputs for the intended purpose.The Programme is about providing agricultural inputs support to small scale farmers that were affected by Covid-19 during the year 2020.”
“Though Covid-19 is no more ravaging the country, we still find out that there is still hardship that is occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy, so these inputs given to the beneficiaries will assist them, and serve as a kind of palliatives to these famers so that there would be reduction of hunger and poverty in the society.”
In Oluyole Local Government, 70 Cassava farmers, out of which are 30 YEAP beneficiaries received the agricultural inputs as empowerment materials from the state Governor Makinde through OyoN-Cares in order to ensure food security in the state, as each beneficiaries received 20 bundles of Cassava cuttings, 2 bags of NPK Fertilizer and 1litre of herbicide.
In Atiba LGA, each of the 100 Tomatoes farmers received 25 sachets of tomatoes seeds, 1 pre-emergence and 1 post-emergence herbicide, with NPK 20-10-10 Fertilizer, while in Ona-Ara Local Government each of the 20 tomatoes farmers also received their agricultural inputs.
In Oyo East Local Government, each of the 80 cassava farmers received 20 bundles of cassava cuttings, with 2 bags of NPK, and 1 litter of herbicide.
Also in Lagelu Local Government Secretariat Iyana-Offa, total number of 70 farmers comprises 40 cassava farmers and 30 maize farmers received their agricultural inputs.
As each of the 40 cassava farmers in the local government…
