Oyo state clears air on farming settlements

 

The Oyo state Ministry of Agriculture has said the rumour of farming settlements being sold was not correct, but stated some parts of them were on lease to investors who built living quarters for their workers on the land.

This clarification is coming on the heels of rumors that all farming settlements in Oyo state have been sold to some people who are now using the land for housing estates instead of the foods production purposes they were originally designed for.

 The spokesman of the Oyo State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Olusegun Adebisi said the rumour was not true as presented, adding that part of the farm settlement were on lease for private investors for a specific period he didn't really clarify but which is suspected to be 50 years.

He said there was a working agreement between the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan and the state Government and other international bodies for livestock and other types of agricultural activities.

Oyo state, like other states in the former Western Region has not really focused on farming as it has done in other sectors, something which has resulted in food production and supply challenges making the region to depend heavily on northern Nigerian farmers for food supply.

This is one reason for high prices of food and agricultural produce in the state, said some farmers.

Also, there were rumors of loans taken by the state Government running to N7.6 billions almost six years ago for the purposes of using the money to revamp farm settlements in Akufo and Eruwa, but all these as at the filing of this story still seems to be a mirage as there is no clarification on it. All that an official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Foodfarmnews was that the money was intact and that the correspondent should check the website of the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) for answers to the questions.

But a visit paid to the site yielded no such information and efforts to reach the Director General of OYSADA, Dr. 'Debo Akande yielded no result.