The South-West Farmers Commodities Association has said it is disheartening that we are only consuming agricultural products but no longer producing in the Southwest,
urged President Bola Tinubu to leverage on the region’s abundant human and natural resources in the pursuit of agricultural development for farmers.
During a visit to Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of the Afenifere Group, in Akure, the Ondo State capital, Olusegun Dasaolu, the coordinator of the association, stressed the need to utilize available resources in the enhancement of agricultural productivity in the region.
Dasaolu expressed displeasure over the marginalization of South-West farmers in the agricultural business sector, saying,
“When we look at the agricultural development in Nigeria, it is very clear that the Southwest is being marginalized. When we look at the whole scenario from agricultural development in the country, we see that rather than the agricultural business growing in the Southwest, it is going down.”
“Each year, money is being budgeted for agriculture, yet assessment of such funds in the Southwest scores below average.
“A typical example is the Anchor Borrowers programme that happened during the last administration, above a trillion naira was spent, but when we see the percentage that came to the Southwest, it is less than 10 percent.”
He further expressed concern over the region’s reliance on consuming agricultural products rather than actively producing them, despite the abundant human and natural resources available. He stressed the need to tap into these resources in order to make agriculture more attractive to the youth population.
“It is disheartening that we are only consuming agricultural products but no longer producing in the Southwest, despite the human and natural resources that are heavily abundant in the region. We need to rise up and make sure that we tap into our available human and natural resources to make agriculture attractive for our roaming youths.
“We want to see and look into the factors that are responsible for this and how we can correct it so that we can make progress in the Southwest,” he explained
He continued, “We need to go into agriculture, we need to feed ourselves, so we are using this opportunity to appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu because we believe that he is in place to act fast. We have enough human and natural resources that we can tap into. Our president should take advantage of these available resources and help the farmers grow.”
In his statement, Pa Fasoranti echoed the importance of agriculture as a part of the region’s heritage and livelihood.
“We can’t do without agriculture because it is our heritage and source of living. Our prayer is that those ruling us should support our farmers.
“Without farming, there would be hunger in the land. Therefore, there is a need to support farmers,” he said.
