Business & Economic Outlook
ACROSS THE STATES~~
A3
Osun State: Transforming agric sector for economic growth REMI FEYIIIPO write, that O,un Itate i, ,et to rejuvenate the moribund agricultural ,ectoi;expected to boost the state', economy and tap into Lago, State', daily Nl.6 billion market.
e over dependence
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on aU oyu the)'CilC5 rd· eg;ued du: most vibl1lflt
agricultural sectOr 10 the: background In Nigeria.
Before the diicovay of oil in the IiOI, lhe: agric sector of the economy re-
mained the main soun:eo! ~ue forlheccwnry. As • major branch of me economy, II was the main employer of many in the country, espedally in the nt.r2l areas as well as providing employment (or ~ 70 perrelli of the population.
The
fOUf
regtons men - Nonh,
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West and M1d-Wesl. before the aeation of staleS, used to produce crups in large quantides for consumpdon locally and lOr exportation.
The nation was Involved In major crops like beans. sesame. cashew nulS, cassava. cocoa beans, groundnulS, gum Arabic, !colanut. maize (rom}. nldoll, millet. palm kernels,
palm all. plantains. rice, rubber, sorghwn. soybeans and yams. while the most important food oops Ille yams and cassava in the South and sorgtwm and mille! In the North. The South West used ID be major producer of cocoa and was the
leading nOll -oil foreign exchange eama 1hU made the (Dunay to be self-sulfidenl In rood production prieN" 10 the dviI WM, bul ina1:ased steeply afit!J 1!I7l.. 1h1s has$incedropped drastically. as country started lmporung rood hom abroad and neighbouring roumri", But 00 assumption of office November 2010, the present adminism.lion in Osun State led by Rauf Aregbesola. frowned al the state of acriruIlUrI! dw used to be
me
the mainslaY of the statr,', economy, engaging70pen:enloChslomlpopuIation Ihen. had been rdeg;iled to the
""""",,",d '" yean.
While promhing to uansform the seaor of the economy that has been neglected for yean, die governor assured the people thaI priority attention would be gM:n to agricul~ and food seau:ity, promWng thalhis administration would 001 relent in Its dian to Invest massively in the
"""" AregbesoIa explained thaI a sutYl!)'"wuauricd 0Ul on the SOUlCI!:S of
food In die stall!, and indicated that most oflhe rood itemsoonsumed in the stale were being brought from outside the stale.
Dedtuing that the dtuation Wti unacceplable, the gr(I\'mlOf assmed thai mere di!scription ofOsun State asan agrarian statewas oottiesiraJje and must be..hanged According to him, -we dIsaJvered !hat rice Impomd from ..... 11ood<d ""' ........ """'fromNlge> Il<publie and Bwtina Paso dominaln: the marb:t. while most 01 the fish dlsplayed lor sale lie imporud &men
fisb of dubious hygiene and heatth status. Thls is wHat lnfonned ow agrirulture policy of giving priority to food production so that _ can feed owselves and even sdI exr.ess to other state..This abo infonned the eannarltlng olN5.&biWoo In the 2012 budgec to ~brme various pmsrammes that will ttansfonn the agric: sector In the SUIte. 1b achieve the agricultural rev0lution that II encapsulated in his lIlI-poim Integral action plan, which seeks 10 banish hunger and unem· ploymem, and restore healmyUving. The first step takt!n by the p~1 adminisuadon was to embark on land vaUdadon exercise in the nine farm setdemenu owned by !he stale to deu!nnlne the $latuS of senlen.. Aftt:r lh1s was done, to facililate the lransponatlon of agricultural produce bolO the farms, 49 kilomcues acx:ess and 25 kilomenes feeder roads were conslruaed during the year 10 Unk the Mokore. Esa-OkeJ Esa-Odo, two/Patara and Orlle· OwuJAgo-Owu fann seltlemenlS with the urban centres. More so, 30,000 h ectares ofland that had been acquired for food production In the 51ale as pan of the agriculture policy would soon be mmsremd 10 the Ilumen; involved In thescherne. while the administra· don set up Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricul!ure Programme (0REAP) to assist ruraJ fannelll. nllllll8h the Osun State Agricul. nual Corponoon. 2.683 hectares of farmland ~ IJ1lClOri5ed fDI' fann · ers across the slate at subsidised fllII!:S, while It also prepared 8,000 hectara farmland and opened up 5,000 beaares of virgin land b fanning aaoIS me stale in 20 12.
or
For prDpf:l dr:.buJSemenI ofN340 mUlion OUI of be Nt billion loan obtained under the Commercial AgncuilureCrediI Scht'lllC, a llipartite scheme bernet n the st..le govern men!. PoultryA o!>lX:ladon of Nigeria (PAN) and a St hClne manager for the disbUJSel\'W'flI was 5eI up by the ".,........., Ar~l;.. .tule promising thaI a laq;e numl.e of pouilry filmleB In the state who benefinoo from dll~ SLhellle last ) ~a wwld abo be able 10 expand theIr lOUirryf<.rms under a Vt-ell guarar ,II ~ narnt for theIr broiler produc 101' In the coming )~ nored dial ti6 ·)ur of 1.n6 ll.'8 isteredfarmets' 'O-llpeRllvegroups benefined filln. the NI53 million loan cilsb.metll yhiS adnunistr.uion undeI-the Quid!; Impaa II lIeM!'1lUon i)fOb'mlrune{QI Pl. 1b furtherllO ~ farming. thestme has also disbul .ed N60 million as grants 10 Fadar \a Community Associations and 1KH' groupi. Wale Adedoyin. the ~ tate amunissloner for agricuIntre aoo food security, al the publicdisbursemem, noled that payment of stall's counterpart fund hadbcenmadc Iprlorll)'everyyear. While lauding the achievements of the Osun FalIIIlUI III project IS the best perfOJ ming Itate In the South Wesc 7.Of'e and second best in the munuy b du! jua concluded tIDd-tenn ~eu mission. the commlnloner 511d "the payment of counlerpan fu'ld is the key thaI opens the dooJ for accessing the
World BanIc fun, l· Adedoyin aho commended the 2fI Jrx:algao.enrn ent aJUDdls participating in !he Fao:iama III pmject lOr
meit timely p~ nero of N2 million yearly 1XIWlterp;1rI funds. 1hc national ,lroJea coordinator of me projea. n yo Adewumf ill his addreu. comntended Governor Aregbesola for the payment of the annual counte part fund for the swe, adding th II h was on record thai the state go ImUUeflI had paid 0\IeI' N200 milIlo 1 50 farfrom project Inception. to 20 I I. Ttl ensure lila I die distribuLion of fenlliu:f'S gel to rlimlers. the Osun Stale Fertilizer! Disnihulion and MOnitoring Corunhtee deve.Joped a comprehenslv ' data of all farmers in the'livingSp--ioB' ,lale. Theoonunillt edirected tbeOsun Srnle AgricultUlU JDevdopmenl Pmgmmme(OSSADEP}todesignaoneJNlge appUcatioll form to facilitate re:rtilizel' reques b) medium- and large-scale fam en, and the form simply designed Is made to capture necessary deu. i1ed Information aboul prospecW-e fanners who are requesting lOr fe,tiIlzft 5Uppty. This is aimed III pevmting mkI· dIemen.&omhlJj;ddllgtbesaleoCtbe product. which I ad led to the diversion of the aidc;.rll'nrming input 10 various uw::kets ¥hen! they are sold al rut-duuat prkes.. The committ !econsidemI varI-