In view of the forthcoming farming season, the Ezema community in Mgbagbu-Owa, Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, says it is planning to engage in extensive farming, stressing the need for incentives as well as the establishment of better road networks in the region.
Members of the community, as well as residents from neighbouring areas, convened at the weekend to deliberate on measures to ensure agricultural revolution in 2024.
Speaking with journalists, the facilitators of the event, Mr. Ozokolo Sunday and Mr. Pascal Aneke said that Ezeagu Local Government Area is capable of providing livelihood for the entire Enugu State and beyond.
Ozokolo said, “With my experiences outside the shores of Nigeria, I discovered that Ezeagu has the capacity to engage in extensive farming. We have the arable land, we have the water, even capacity for irrigation. So, when I returned, I felt that we needed to encourage our people to return to the farm.
“This is why you can see many people coming here today with different sizes of yam; we have a mechanism to be sure it was cultivated in Ezeagu.”
In his statement, Mr Aneke called on the government to support the development of roads in the area, stating that if this issue is fixed, Ezeagu community has the capacity to feed the entire state and beyond.
“The poor state of our roads is a big setback to what we are envisioning ahead of the 2024 farming season.
“If the farmers don’t have an access road to convey their produce to the markets, it becomes a problem. Our appeal today to the Enugu State government is to declare emergency work on some of the roads in Ezeagu, and I can assure you that the benefits will be felt by the entire state. Our people have the capacity to feed the entire state and beyond.”
