Govt targets 200,000Ha for commercial investors
Still basking in the euphoria of successes recorded in the last two editions, Ogun State is set to hold the 2016 Investors’ Forum scheduled for Tuesday, May 10 and Wednesday, May 11, with the major focus on Agriculture.
Themed, ‘Environment, Agriculture, Transportation-Ogun State: Emerging Economic Power House,’ the forum will avail government of necessary steps to make agriculture attractive to youths and to attract investors on the investment opportunities that abound in the sector.
Addressing Journalists at a World Press Conference, held in Abeokuta, to unveil the event, Governor Ibikunle Amosun disclosed that the main aim of the forum is to woo investors to pump money into the sector, to encourage peasant farmers.
While noting that the level of economic activity in Agriculture remains very low, he said the state would make the sector more attractive, in order to encourage investors to source raw materials locally.
According to the Commissioner of Agriculture, Ronke Sokenu, the state is presently shopping for a minimum of 200,000 hectares of land for commercial investors, willing to go into production of various crops.
“Luckily, one of the resource persons for the forum is the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Audu Ogbeh, himself and other panelists will tell us what we need to do and we’ll also have the opportunity of unveiling what our plans are.
“We have good soil, but everybody talks about climate change, look at the heat we are experiencing in May, it doesn’t support agricultural production and agriculture does not exist without primary production, those are the things we are aiming at. I must add that we have liberal rules on the acquisition of lands,” she said.
The commissioner disclosed that parts of infrastructure put in place to assist farmers, is the construction of a-107 kilometre road, which links four different local governments-Yewa North, Yewa South, Ipokia and Ado-Odo/Ota, assuring that by the time the roads open-up, there’ll be lot of activities in the areas, in terms of movement of goods and people.
“We are looking at opening these areas to attract investors. The ministry of Agriculture is repository to farmers’ data and we usually bring them out to support any initiative of government.”