Oyo farmers frown at Makinde's Agric policy, DG, Agricbusiness disagrees

The chairman, All Farmers' Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Oyo state chapter, Engr. Olumide Ayinla has described the agricultural policy by the state government as not beneficiary to farmers, saying how can an illiterate be asked to go online in order to get subsidized inputs. He said this recently in his office at Ibadan to Food Farm News.

Ayinla pointed that the strategy of scrapping Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme (ASADEP) has denied many farmers inputs opportunities as the new extablished Oyo State Agricbusiness Development was compelling farmers to go online in order to get inputs.

" The question is how many rural  farmers can go online to attract such government benefits. It is only political or portfolio farmers that can attract such benefits and not real farmers" said Ayinla.

He described the strategy being deployed by the Makinde's administration as taking agricultural activities in the state backward more than being anticipated, adding that no benefit has come to his members in the state through the new created Agricbusiness agency. 

" No support for farmers especially the real farmers because as AFAN chairman in the state, I could not point to any achievement in this  sector that this administration has done to farmers" said he.

Responding to what he would have expected Makinde to do in the sector, the farmers' leader said that all the  dilapidated agricultural farms and  processing centres like the gari factory at Akufo, and cashew factory at Eleyele should have been rehabilited to ensure off takers for farmers.

Speaking on Anchor program, he stressed that the achievement that could have been recorded through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) loan was abstructed by Covid-19, adding that nothing has come from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) despite several attended meetings without any support.

According to him " as far as the Federal Government is concerned in Agriculture, there is nothing we can point to this year even upon meetings upon meeting that they call us to attend as regards inputs distribution. There is none received in Oyo state from FG.

He however condemned the timing of this year National Council on Agricultural (NCA) that is slated for December 16 and 17, 2020 saying it was a sheer waste of money at the expense of the sector.

Meanwhile, a visit to the new Agricbusiness Agency of the state to see the Director General (DG) and Executive Adviser to the Governor, Dr. Debo Akande confirmed that the Government is repositioning the state to meeting value chain Agricbusiness economy in partnership with medium and large scale  organizations through a centralised Agricultural productivity in processing centres across the state.

Akande said that the state ministry of agriculture has the mandate to support the small scale farmers, and which it has been doing contrary to AFAN chairman' s position without discrimination.

 He added that Agricbusiness Agency only  attend to the needs of medium and large scale organizations in Agriculture for the purpose of integrated value chains agricultural business for economic consolidation and empowerment of people in the state. 

"We deal basically with medium and large scale organizations to actualise economic repositioning of the state  for job creation and revenue generation" Akande said.