Nigerian Tribune 15Tuesday, 31 May, 2011
AST week, precisely on Monday, 23 May, 2011, many government officials from the ministries of agriculture and na tural reso urces from the s ix states that make th e Sou th -West, farmers from the zone and most importantly, FADAMA experts from Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Lagos states, ga thered inside the auditorium of the Management Consultancy Centre, Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State, to deliberate on the activities of FADAMA in the
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came for the 4th Sou thWest Zonal Supervision Mission,led the FADAMA team to the office of the immediate past Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Barrister Kunle Ishola, as part of the protocol befo re he could decla re th e programme open. Speaking in the office of the co mmi ssioner, Mr . Olayinka sai d the team had come to the state to put heads together on how to m ove the FADAMA project forward in the zone, as well as empower
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more farmers.
Apart from reviewing the impact of FADAMA project on the production capacity of farmers in the zone, senior official s of FADAMA also took their time to visit som e loca l governments in Oyo State to see the ac tiv iti es of FADAMA farmers in such councils in order to have first-hand info rmation abou t w hat is presently go in g o n in som e FADAMA farms in those selected rural areas. The acting head of Oyo State FADAMA Coordinati on O ffi ce, Ib ad an, Mr Nath Olayi nka,who .p,layed hos t to the FADAMA ex perts th a t
He also appealed to the comm issione r to give neccessary support to the FADAMA III project just as the state government did for the FADAMA II project. In his welcome speech, to the participants at the venue of the 4-day
-The Acting Project Coordinator, FADAMA office, Ibadan, Mr Nath Olayinka (standing), explaining some points to the immediate past Commissioner for Agriculture, Oyo State, ·Barrister Kunle Ishola, when he led other senior officers of FADAMA III project in the South-West to the office of the commissioner at the Oyo State Secretariat, Ibadan, recently. programme, Mr Olayinka further told the participants that since the offici al launch of FADAMA III in
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tural sector of the state, w ith many farmers having good testimonies to sha re.
..As roimnissioner kicks against politicisation of FADAMA, ADPs
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HEimmediate pas t Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development in Oyo State, Barrister Kunle Ishola, has described the FADAMA programme as a good agricultural development iniliative, stressing that many
rural farmers have benefitted a lot from the imp lementation of the project. He stated this in Ibadan, last week, while welcoming 'senior officials of FADAMA III projectfrom the South-West to his office. Addressing the agriculture experts, the commis-
'I '11 use agriculture to combat youth restiveness' HE C hairman, Calabar . South Loca l Go.vernment. Area, Honourable Ekeng Henshaw, ha s declared th a t ag ricultura l developJ;Ilent is one of the areas he w ill use in colI1bating the menace of youth restiveness and un e mpl oyment in hi s area. H e sa i d a lr eady, hi s adm ini s trati o n has ident i f i ed sites for es t ab li sh m e nt of fish farms and other li vestock business, a ll of w hi ch h as b ee n cap tur ed in the 2011 budg e t whic h h e recent l y . sig ned int o law . Speak in g w hil e r e ceivi ng in audience a delegation of the exec utiv e m e mbers of All Fa rm e rs Associ ati o n of Nigeria (AFAN), (Aqua-culture s ubs ec tor), Henshaw n ote d that agric ultur e h as the
Oyo State in August, 2010, a lot of developmental projects h ad been recorded in th e agricul-
potential of eco noinically empowering the tee min g you th s of Ca labar South, a nd as s u ch h e welco m ed a n y collaboration or partnership that · w ill bring visib le and ap pr ecia bl e re s ult a nd benefi ts to the p eo ple. He welco m e d the s u gges t io n f r o m the farmer s' associa ti o n on th e inve s tment in the c ult ivatio n of a plant; Moringa Oleifera commonly ca lled the miracle tree . He n oted the importance of the miracle plant as exp lored b y the Raw Material Research and D e velopment Comm i ss ion which is said to h ave n ot le ss th an 300 medicinal u ses for hum an and also u seful in fish and shrimp nuttition . In his address ear- · lier , th e s ta te Chairman of All Farmers Association o f Nige-
ria , Aqua Culture Sub sec tor, Mr Fra n cis Ukpanyang no t ed that hi s associatio·n s trongl y belie ves that co mm ercia l farming is the bed-rock for sustainable development, especially in th is local government area . He id e ntifi ed poverty as the cr u x of the predicament plaguin g th e yo uth s an d dislodges the str ucture of advanc eme nt amongst the yout h s a nd even the elders. Ukpanyang a l so pledged to partner w ith the loca l gov e rn -. ment in th e developm e nt of aqua-culture and hint ed th at they ca n offer so me agricu ltural b y -produ cts for pres e ntation b y Ca labar South Loca l Government Area duri ng th e World Foo d Da y Anniversary coming up later in the year.
sioner said if the country must be regarded as a serious nation, then there should be a meaningful development in the agricultura! sector of the country. He said many countries of the world ,who are regarded as developed nations cannot relegate agriculture to the background, stressing that agriculture is one of the major sectors of the economy that can be used to banish hunger, poverty and reduce unemployment. According to him, government should give neccessary support towards the development of agriculture and there is the need to adequ ately fund developmental projects like FADAMA agriculture development. The same thing .
goes for the Agricultural Development Programme (ADPs). In his words, "I believe FADAMA programme has done a lot in the lives of our practising farmers, especially those in the rura1 areas . I'm deeply involved as a man in charge of the agriculture ministry of Oyo State in the last four years, so I know why I'm saying this. FADAMA is one agricultural programme , that should be embraced byeverybody, if we wan t to achieve food sufficiency and security, therefore, I advice that FADAMA and ADPs sho uld no t be politidsed and the political transiti on programme should not also affect us activities, he adviced.
-Barrister Kunle Ishola
In hi s words, "T ill date, over N144 million h ave been spent on the program me in the sta te and Oyo State gove rnment h ad also released the sum of N85 .872 million b e in g the state's counterpart fund for the programme for the year 2009 and 2010. We need to commend the state go.vernmen t for its effort at making agriculture not only attracti ve, but to -also make O yo state o n e of the recognised food baskets in the country. The efforts and support of the state governor towards the agricultural sector is commendable though we are still awaiting the release of the state counterpar t fund for th e year ~011," he stated. Also speaking on the occasion, Mr Ramadan Hamisu Aliy u, stated that the national office of FADAMA at Abuja was impressed a nd happy with th e ac ti v iti es of . FADAMA in the Sou thWest,stressing tha t Oyo State ha s performed well even better than some states in the zone. In his remark at the occasion, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Oyo State, Mr Laolu Adegoke,' sa id FADAMA III was a follow up to FADAMA I1·which came to an end in 2009. Mr Adegoke, who is also the Chairman, Oyo State Technica l Committee of FADAMA further posited that presenOy, FADAMA III is operating in 20 local government areas of the state, stressing that O,e project enjoys corella! relationship with other agriculture stakeholders in the state. "FADAMA III project has been running smoothly and unhindered in Oyo State and the state government is always ready to give neccessary by not depriving the project its coun terpart fund . I have it Oil record that Oyo state government had supported FADAMA III with over N85.872 million being the counterpart fund for the year 2009 / 2010 and very_ soon, that of 2011 would be released for the project," he concluded.