SATIIRDAY lRIBUNE
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Awa Fainl settleittehts dan South-West Govs Bring Back The Golden Era? I
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Will] ~ts, q;pability to meet tfe basichumanneeds, agriculture has been vita{ to the suslErum<:e of anyeronomy.OLAYINKA.oLUKOY,4.sAMNWAOKqSEYEADENIYIairdADEWALEAJAYI _, sucJ,eye~ ,the farm settl"fl'ents establisHed by ,the sage, Chief O¥a£em\;Awolowo, in some Southwesfern .tales of tire federation over five decades alJ<? and report that most of these farms are still e;/tant as eHorts are being made by successive admioistrations to sustain them I I
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NE of the many legacies of the Premier of the old western region, Chief ObaCemi Awoluwo, is the fann setllemenls he established across Ihe region in the 50s, ('0 make it the bedroc k of f.:JOd production in the country. The initiative was timely. coming at a time agriculture was the economic mains tay of Nigeria . However, the n~glecl of the !:('ClOT (or petroleum since 1960s has shown thai a nalion that fai ls
to produce food for its people will depend on other nations The obiecti\~e of setting up these farm settlements by the then premier was to achieve food sufficiency both OIl the regional and national levels. When Awc lolVo was setting up the Western Nigeri~ Deve lopment Corporation (WNDC), IVhich established \';UiOLLS indust ries, ag ricultural plantations in cocoa. rubber, commerdal trees, cashew, palm trees and fTUit trees, IHUe did Nigerians know that the entity called Nigeria, would depend on tmporla tion ('If food, despite it s large expanse of land, late r on. The WNDe al so established farm settlements fo r the t.raining of young and ageing farmers and for the production and distribution of farm produ c ts al
affordable priCt's. food and cash crops peculiar or The objective of farm settlements was synonymous wilh the western region, for to make s ure ..,~="""example, coco .. , that greater objecti"ve of Cldfina c..shew, coffee, leakand beller ............ "6 tree, oil palm, mango, conce ntration farm settlements by the oranges, pineapple, was given to . . L _ n ........... ;erofthe Wi'~ maize, yam, among llH:::lI ru;:.... u t;;alCU.l others, were the practice of agriculture by Region was achieve frxx! produced on a large scale to meet not only farme rs, since sulfi.dency both at the the industrial ov er 70 peT cent of the reoional and nationalleveIs." demands in tenns of tr producing raw population materials for the w ere practising farmers . Farm settlements flourishing manufacturing companies were also es!ablis hed to ens ure that both in the country, but also demands of both
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Keeping the Legacy Feeding loday 's population of 150 million in Nigeria has becom e a Herculean ta s k for success ive governments at all levels because of the high cos t of labour and equipment needed in farming. The scheme, Saturday Tribune lea rnt, was borne oul DE Awolowo's conrem for the masses and the need to us e agriculture as a source of employme nt generation for the people in th(> region. With the creation of s tates alter Nigeria'S independence in 1960, the farm settlements in the Western Region were spread across Og un, 1:agos, Oyo, Ekiti, Os un, O ndo and &10 sliltes and are still in existence till date. The qm.stion that arises is Awo's dream still alive? Saturday Tribune leilnlt that the farm selilement in [korodu, Lagos Stale is nul functioning any longer, while the one at 8adagry is still keeping the vision of the fuunder alive.. When SarwdayTn1runevisited the Ewe;e Training Institute being managed by the Ogun State Government, some of the sludenls who were on various agricultural training programmes commended the vision of the s., se for setting up the farm settlements, which they said afford them the opportunity of contributing their quota to the economic growth of the nation through fanning. In providing answe rs to the above question.. as it concerns Ogun Stale, the Director, Agricultural Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Z.s Adegoriolu, maintained thai the eight farm settlements which fall within the three senatorial districts of the slate are still wilxi ng stronger because of past govenuncnts' contribution to the growth of agriculture in the stale. He said that the farms. since the days of Chiefs OIabisi Onabanjo, Oluscgun ()SQba and Chenga Daniel, former governors of Ogun State, had been used as a way of generating employment and providing food for the people of the s tilte and beyond. Going down memory lane, Adcgorio[u said apart from the eight {arm settlements, a farm institute which serves as a training school 10 feed thuse farms, Wils" also established in Eweje in Odeda Lo cal Government Area of the state. (Continued on page "7)L~~ II:
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SATIJRDAY TRIBUNE ,
20 AUGUST, 201
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Akufo farm settlement in Akufo lown; Eruwa farm settlement in Eruwa town in lbarnpa Lornl Government Area of Oyo State, Lalupon farth settlement, Ogbomoso farm settlement in Ogbomoso town, Iresadu farm settlement, Ipapo-lseyin Farm Settlement located in the Oke-Ogun (Oyo-no~h) area of the state; Fashola fann S4!lth.'menl in Oyo town and Ido fann settlement in Ido Local Govemml.'nl Area of Dyo State. During the 50th anniversary of the farm settlements held in October last year, the South Western Nigeria Conference of Farm Settlers Association, apex body of farmers in !he regiol\' said that the idea of farm settlements was conceptualised by the So."Ige oul of concern for the we.lfare of the masses and the need to tum beneficiaries into employers of labour. The President of the association, Evangelist Samson Makinde, during Its visit to the matri.urn of the Awolowo d y nasty. Chief (Mrs) H ID Awolo wo. before the anniversary pointed oul that the scheme. as one of the many legacies of the sage, had remained imperishable because it was founded on selncssness.
Lip Service Many Nig.erians have strongly expressed the view thai the key to !he liberation of the Nigerian economy lies in the development of !he nation's agricultural sector. h country's et1:lnOmy CW11!nUy depends almost on importation. Experts in the agricultural sector have variously lamented the wasting potential in the agricultural sector. Their views have almost a lways been hinged on the Inability of the federal. stale and IQC;l1 governments in the country, at various times.. to muster enough political courage 10 develop the sector. At different fora, Nigerian experts in various 6elds of agrirulturt' have decried tl1(~ wasling research results that are gathering dusts on shelves in their various institutions. I..oIst year alone, Nigeria spent N63Obiliion 10 import food, Including siapies that could have easily been produced locally. And there seems 10 be no end 10 the trend which ~ to be ano~ form of slavery for the country. The Federal (Continued from page 6) Government. at various 1ht> eight fan], settlements are located at Ado-Odo in times had sel up agendes Ado-Odo/ Ota l..ocal Government Area; Coker Farm in lfo and sundry bodies to boost local Government; Sawonjo. in Yewa North local lood production but there Government. !lewo farm in Abeokut .. North Local seems to be nothing Government; Ikenne, the home 01 the sage; lbiade Farm in tangible coming (rom them. Ogun Waterside. Ago-hvoye Farm, (jebu North and At least: the!e is nothing Ajegunle farm Iornted along Ajcbo road. seen 10 be in the offmg for Adegoriolucnnfirmed thallhef~werestill veryactivt' now from any of the liersof due to the commitments of succeeding govemmenm. government in all the stOlles It was gathered thatlhe immedi"te past government in of the country that mllY the state, under Q,enga DanieL also established additional bring back the ground nut 14 farm estates 10 complement the settlements. pyramids. the cocoa boom "According tu the scheme. the houses ocrupied by the and the pros perous oil farmers were handed over to them on lease in the 80s, while palm plantations. dle farms still helong to g.(n'emmenL From lime to time, The djsturbing trend of governme nts assist them, providing them with paying lip se rvice to infrastructu~, tractors and implements. agriculture has al50 " In that fact. government stationed agro-serviasa:ntres programme that shot the ..egion 10 limelight and placed become worrisome to the Centr.1 Bank of Nigeria on those seUlernen15 10 service the farmers and a lot of the country' s name on a very strategic Rlace on the (CON) and the institution has taken a detour from its produce is coming out 0( that place. TIle lbiade, Ago-lwoye world's agricultural map. monetary policy role to agrirulture financing. Recently, and Ikenne farm settlements are tl1!:t' crop-based farm "All the facilities needed were provided in the farm the CON govemor. Mallam Sanusi lamido Sa nu si, settlements. A 101. of palm oil is being produced at Ibiade. settlements 10 enroumge fanne rs stay there to work. In delivered a paper at the Nationa l Youth Service Corps 1here is rubber too. They still harvesl those things tiU date, fact. there were good road networks that also helped (NYSC) orient.. tion camps around the country. Sanusi. praetising farmers to take their crops to market. The who was tepresenled in Ekiti St.. le by Ihe Branch while others a~ amble, livestock farming." he stated. He explained further that "Some of loem in L.lgosStale arrangement at that time was that the government Control1erofCBN in Eklti S~.il te, Mr. Samuel Ogungbayi, ha\'ebeencloseddown.FDrexample,theoneinAgegeisno would buy certain percentage of harvested produce, addressed the you th undergoing orientation on the more there now but we still have in lkorodu and Badagry while the remaining percentage would be (or farmers. va rious incentives the CBN had made available to too. But lhe one in Ogun State. â&#x20AC;˘. ._ -- - - - - - - - - - -- - - . . . . . "So, the problem of post_ encourage them to go into farming . still exist, just like some in harvest wastages were taken The youth in Ihe NYSC camp In Ise, lse/Emure other states." nwith theamtion ofstatesafter careol. Notonlythat.d.ilferent Local Government Area of Ekiti State als o were Adegoriolu also told NiDPriR'S itJd,---.Aence in 1.96Q. the co mmodity marketing sensitised on many other spheres of entrepreneurship SalurdayT~fwtherthal -0!{;;~ . . . .' boards were also put in place all in a bid 10 encourage them to sta rt-lip businesses, th.e purpose of establishing .famt settleaJents in the Westetn to internet With tanner.; to buy Including farming rather than searching for jobs. the tann settlements is sliU their produce. That was why According to the National-Vice President of All intact. adding lh."It theyscrved Region were aanss (Jglnl many people romanl;t!d Farmers Association of Nigeria (A FAN). Chief Tola .1S a centre for learning for Lasos, CJyo, EIdti., CJswl,. Oldo fanning and we were food Adepomola. Ihe so lutio n is for the various state other farmers around the suffident. Farming WM! also ,. governments to make agricuitureatlractive to the youth locations. and Edo states and are still in a profession you cou ld be and interested masses. Chief Adepomola, who is the
Stopping Colossal Spending On Food Importation
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ogrirultural offlO:."f maintained that previous governments in t1le state hold continued to render assistance to fanners, in termsolinÂŁrastructuraldevelopmentsuc:haswaler,clectricity as requested by the farmers. oiher state governments, according to Adegoriolu. are a lso considering the po tentials Inherent in the agricultura l sector as key 10 rapid socio-economic growth of the country.
Fulfilling Purpose According to Professo r Akin Omotayo. an 3griculture expert at the University of Agriculture. Abeokula (UNAB), Ogun Slate, the fann settlements contributed a lut to the development of agriculture in the old wes tern region and it was this impo rtant
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Speaking further the agriculture expert and fonner Commissioner of Agrirulturc and Rural Development in Ekiti State explained that through procetds from cocoa,. late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was able to build public edifices like the Coco.'l-House, former Liberty Stadium. now named "fter him. established the Nigeria Television Authority NTA. \~hich is the first in Africa. Most important:r., it provided free education and healthcare for peopleo! IC region. Nine of such farm settlements Saturday T.dbuneleamt,. arein OyoState withalotalland areao( 18,381.13 hectares. while Osun State has 30 of its kind spread aaoss the state. Among the fannsettJements in DyoState are the ljaye (arm settlementin Jjayeto\o'-'1''1;nornfannsettlemenlinDoratown;
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Crops, in a telephone interview with Saturd_y Tribune observed Ihal "both federa l and state govenunents are not adequately nddressing the problem of agricultu re," adding that "they only make polides without proper b.. cking for the implementation of the policies." Adepomola lauded the initiative of the ChIef Obalemi Awolowo govt'mme.nt in dlt' Western Region which came up with f;um settlements in th.,t era. He expl"ined further thlll the Awolowo-e-a fann sctt1ements were places "where homogenous crops were propagated and transfer of technology was practised. ~thefannsettle:mentserthanredspedalizalionand
encouraged duster farming whim made it possibJe lor all the fanners to use lesserequipme.nt (or more producti\-ity." (Continued on p_ge 34)
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134]20 AUGUST, 2011 '
SATUROAY TRIBUNE
Agriculture: Vital To Liberation Of
N1'O'01'l
(cuntinued from page 7) However. the Ekiti State Commissioner for Agriculture. Dr. Adio Folayan. while sJ'f'aking Ofl the furm settlements in Orin. Ido/{:)§i Local Government Area al the state and A)'ede-lged~ In Oye Local Government ArN of the state, said, the Or. Kaycdc F~~mi·led administrntion had begun the pl'UCe$ of ghting life 10 the farm settlements. Falayan said. th~ stale go\'emmenl had entered into partnership with Dlzengof( and Agrlfed for the resuscitation of th~ farm settlement in Orin while WJde/ow is doing the same for the farm settlement in Ayede-Igede. "0( the 100 buildings that a{@ina staleof disrepair al Orin Farm Settlement. 6Ooft.hem art" currently being rehabilitated. Government is al!o building roads,. An auditorium. making water available and stop shops fOf the purpose of making the farm seHlemenb attractive for young fanners," Or Folayan st.\ted. He said work plan was ready 10 make tilt' fann ~emenls Illtracth~ (or youth (annefSand thai is why \~ arecurrenUy training them "and apout (rom that,. they are being given' stipends..- H~ addt'd that"weareworking tomake the placr:s atln\cthf~ SO th ~t th~ youths being trained could be comfortable in Ih~ se"'~l1lents and OOIlC81trale on £amUng." In Osun Stale. four farm settlements were inherited when il was can..ed out of the okI Oro stile in 1991 , the settlements are located in Ago Owu, Esa ~. Oke Osun and hyo. TIle fann setUemenla ha\'~ prototype houses buill for the (anners .which govmunent sold to them Ihrmlgh ill'stallment paymmt,. while !he (arming land was leased to them. ~ ~arliest set of (anners in Ago Owu farm sctUemenl 5o1lid when th~y moved In. in the 00'5 fadlities like pipe: banle w.,let • (anning equipment. tmct0r5 wert' available (or usage. but as linte' passed by the equipmenl developed (ault. 1be new 01'1('5 given to them could notscrve the entire (ilnn settlement elfcdively . , In Ago o.vu. the f.tnnscrttlen~ntsarediv;ded inlutll.ree, but the entire community has only one tractor. Acaxding to t.trs Emi.lyOlubodc. who haY'(' been in the village since 1964. nlOSt of the facilities they enjoyed when theymo..w intoth~ {ann have depleted and even some are obeo~. and thai only one tractor serves the commWlity which has a population o( over.50 fanners, adding that the tractor is rotated among the setHer$" and was mainly used to plo"' the land before fanning and to lake produce 10 the
ma"'She" explained . that !he farm \tillage required the
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tance of the stote govcn\lnent in the 8R!a of road. hospital and financia l aid becau!!e they are about planting new cocoa lfee. as the ont'S planted year-; ago are old and needed to be n=plac«l. 1he major problem confronting the fanner is slorage facility in Ago OW\I The Silo buiJt during the time it was n tablis hed can only be pow~ by e1~ctridty. and the community d oes net have electricity supply to power it . the administriltlon Ilf Ol<lgunsoye Oyin!!)I.. therefore installed poles and I.. id eledric cables for the community. HO\~'e\'er, the community is )'cI to be connected to the IlIltional grid. Another !!euler in the (ann village. Mr Gboyega O lanl)>i. s,1id he moved into the lItea in 1985. and the settlement roquired I'03d netwcrk tho,t will aid ~asy accessibility to the
ciation for 14 ye.1r!1, explained that most of them were engaged in large-scale farming and plant oops such as cocoa. ca.o;s,WiI, lTh'\iz.e: and palm tree. market He howev~r explained that why the settlement was diHe added Ihal th~ crib constructed during the tenure of v;ded into three zones was to enable those whose tann one of the military governors is small and cannot acrorn- lands are far to build ~ closer to their fanns. modale much pro-:....._ _ _ _~_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _... On the process oC becoming a settler al dllC2. ""'In Osun S £our .c.._ ~__ the farm. Olaniyi,. who moved into the Ago Olaniyi stilled tate, .I.d.lU1 :ft:un'1U~::"1s o.vu farm settlement in 1985, said. thealthnt thecommuwereinhetiled when it was c:arved out 01 Iocationismadebv theMinistr)'ofAgrinity is pea~ful • Ihe old state in 1991. The settlements rulture. which will then ghoe the l'Ipplkant lind has neyer areloc»ted inAgo0wt4.£sa ~ Oke three lists of larm setUements of which he ls eJ;perienced ~ The ha ~pected to pk:k one. cu rity breach. Osunandlwo. fannsettJements lie He added that the new settlers were This. he attribprotntype houses built for the ~ given lands to build thrir houses and farm uted to the sccu· which go\l8lUJleltl sold to them lands to fann • adding that indigenes of rity measures put installment payment while the famling 8enue State who want to larm are also In place by the land was leased to them."" accommodated. In Ago o.vu and Iwo,. the roads leading residents and the !/lid down ruin th~1 to the fann settlements haw been deated. but guide the !lettlers. Pert of the rules Is that none 0( them was in Iwo the fann settlemenl was divided into two by a river nllowed to have ~ range n.>aring , none or the resident whlch passes through Ihe settlemenl , and th~ farmers have should steal produce or anything belonging to his or her appealed to the slale government 10 help construct a bridge ne;ghbour, no adultery. and none o( the resfdents should across the river. ' make any form of ritual in thecomnlUnity. He hinted that Some of the tetllers said II was throudl communal d · 'any member thot vV)lare5 tlle rule would be expelled from . forts Ihat they established sch ools for tflcir children.. bethe community. In addilior\. every member of the scttlernent .- mUge ill the past they have to go to neighboring towns and Is expected 10 be ind,)Or. latest by 10 pm. He added thaI any villages td qister their children 'into SchoolS. tecalcirrant me~ who fails to comply with the rules In other fann aettJemenls, they want upgrading of their l'I'OU1d be R!pOrted t? th~ Ministry of Agriculture. medical fadUtles. In Mokore titey WilJl t the dispensary OIaniyi. who served 'as secretary 10 the residents ~ which was set up in the (/.'fa upgntdcd toa health CEl\tceor
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State governor, Mr Raul ~liI, has Ii'1ken steps to address most of the problems facing the ranners. This,. he did by Idling up Osun State Rural Entl'l'J'r1se and Agriculture Programme (OREAr). which is addressin robIems associated wi~ fann. ing. According 10 tllC coordinator oC the programme. Dr Charles Akinola. there ~ nine farm settlements in the stale and all are receiving attention. The other five farm settJe. menl5 werecrealed byOtid Bisi Akftnde when he was the govemor or the state. He said that tl'le state of the settlements wu parlow: when the Aregbesola administrntion carne on board because some of them did not have access roads which made it difficult for them to take their produ~ to the market,. while some
settlers hRve rcloctlted from tJ~
sctJlcments.
He s tressed Ihal the s tale was lia iSing with the Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) to r«onslruct the loads to the farm .sell l em~nts and the o rga nisa tion has sw ung into action . He also noled that they also assisted th~ farmers to clear their farm lands. and in each of these selllements about 50 kilometre roads were constructed_ Dr Akinola added that in addition to that . they are . looking at the possibility or constructing a hair dam which would serve the settlements so that it will alsoSlE':1've as Irrigation fur the f~ while the rwal electrification scheme would also lJ.enefi~ the settlers. OREAP boss explained that in order to serve the lrumers optimally the)' are collaborating with o ther agencies of gm;mment .