We’re Harnessing Youth Potentials, Innovation On Food Security -Agric Commissioner
Ogun State Commissioner of Agriculture, Hon. Bolu Owotomo says government is intensifying efforts to harness potentials and innovation of Nigerian young farmers and entrepreneurs, towards ensuring abundant food production.
Hon. Owotomo disclosed this during a presentation of the Ministry’s half-year budget performance to the House Committee on Agriculture, chaired by Hon. Waliu Owode, at the Assembly Complex in Abeokuta.
The Commissioner, who highlighted the Ministry’s initiatives to achieve food security through four key parameters, such as, allocating farmland to investors, youth and women inclusiveness in agriculture, and partnering with stakeholders to utilise abandoned government-owned agricultural assets, stated that some youths were currently undergoing training at the Soilless Farm Lab, Owowo.
He explained that the state, in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), has trained enumerators to register more farmers on the platform, in addition to the 60,000 farmers already registered.
Hon. Owotomo urged members of the State House of Assembly to encourage farmers in their constituencies to register under the Ogun State Farmers Information Management System (OGFIMS), to access necessary support and boost food production in the state.
The Commissioner added that some youths from the state were currently undergoing training at the Soilless Farm Lab, Owowo, as part of the state government’s effort to harness the potentials and innovation of Nigerian young farmers and entrepreneurs in agriculture.
In his remarks, Hon. Owode acknowledged the Ministry’s achievements in ensuring food security and its efforts at mitigating the effects of flooding in fish farms in the state, charging the Ministry to make farm equipment available to enhance mechanised farming.
Also speaking, other members of the committee, which include, Hon. Adegoke Adeyanyu, Samusideen Lawal, Lukman Adeleye, Adebisi Oyedele, and Babatunde Tella, commended the agency for its improved revenue generation and genuine engagement with youths in agriculture.
