Kogi to establish 6 farm settlements

Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello

The Kogi State government says it will establish six farm settlements across the three senatorial districts of the state to boost agricultural production.

The special adviser to the governor on local government affairs, Mr Abubakar Ohere, disclosed this in Lokoja while addressing the administrators of the state’s 21 local government councils on the “New Agenda Blueprint” of the state government. 

He said farmers in the settlements would be encouraged to embark on mechanised farming and provided with extension services to ensure food sufficiency in the state. 

Ohere said the proposed farm settlements’ programme was initiated to use agriculture to create jobs and wealth for the youths. 

He said farmers that would be engaged under the scheme would be trained on how to handle simple farming tools, adding that farming tools would be fabricated locally to save cost and be sold to farmers at subsidised rates. 

Ohere said that 252 shea butter farmers selected from the 21 local government councils in the state would be trained in Minna, Niger State, as part of government’s effort to make the product a foreign exchange earner. 

He charged the councils administrators to ensure effective implementation of the new direction blueprint through good governance, saying that government would not entertain failure from any of them. 

The special adviser warned them against allowing sentiments and tribalism to creep into governance at their councils, saying that the interests of people and the state should rank first in their decisions. 

The chairman of the Kogi State chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Mr Taufiq Isa, said the administrators would ensure success of the Governor Yahaya Bello-led administration in the state.