In an effort to ensure food sufficiency and make Ekiti the food basket of the country, the state government has said its 2025 budget would focus more on agriculture development.
Governor Biodun Oyebanji who stated this said his administration in the last two years, had prioritized investment in agriculture, boost capacity of farmers and create a market for farm produce as part of efforts to enhance food production and tackle food insecurity and was already yielding the desired positive results.
He spoke at the weekend while inspecting the Bring Youth Back into Agriculture Project farms in Oke Ako Ekiti, Iyemero Ekiti and Gede in the North senatorial Districts of the state.
The Governor added that the State has also improved on its agricultural policies and guaranteed the needed infrastructure and support to drive the State’s agriculture development plans.
He further said the 2025 budget, aside focusing on agriculture and food security, would prioritize the welfare of citizens, saying his administration in the last two years had done a lot in infrastructure, stressing that he would de-risk the agricultural value chain by scaling up security, provide electricity and rehabilitate roads to farms.
“I’m superbly excited on the outcome of agriculture strategy, few months ago, we flagged off this programme, ‘bring back our youths into agriculture’ and I believe strongly that the only way to prosperity is productivity and bring our youths back to work, government has to provide the platforms for them.
“We partnered with our people and YSJ, a private sector agric company to work out a strategy of bring back our youths to agric where government cleared land for them free of charge, subsidized inputs by fifty percent. I am just going round today to see the outcome of this efforts and I am happy that it has turned round this way.
“What this has taught me is the fact that Ekiti youths are not lazy, Ekiti youths are productive, they can work and what they need is just the platform. I have always been saying it that Ekiti can rival with any states in the federation, but as a government, we need to provide the platform for people to exhibit their potentials and this is what we have done.
“Next year budget is going to focus on welfare and agriculture, we have done a lot with infrastructure, education and health, the time has come for us to feed our people and my target for next year is to grow enough food to feed Ekiti people.”
Oyebanji also expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for providing necessary impetus for the state to thrive in agriculture and other sectors, promised that his administration will continue to provide economic opportunities for youths in the state and position them to be employers of labour.
While commending the youths for their dexterity and commitment to success of the project, he assured the people that his government had already concluded plans to commence rehabilitation of the road from Ayedun to Oke Ako with a pledge to also provide electricity to the town within a short time.
The governor told the Regent of Oke Ako, the Governor assured that those whose farms were acquired and enumeration completed would receive their compensation within two weeks.
He pleaded with them to maintain decorum with the investors and the youths carrying out farming in the area. He assured that no member of the community has collected any money from government on their behalf.
The Youths at the various farm sites had earlier reeled out the demands from government including provision of buses to give them easy access to their farms, free inputs, agriculture loans, accommodation to the farmsteads as well as rehabilitation of roads to the farms among others.
