Governor Seyi Makinde’s Achievements in the Agriculture
Stimulating the Economy of Oyo State through Agriculture
1. Opening and maintenance of rural feeder and farm settlement roads (short term, less than nine months).
In the past one year, Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration has been carrying out road projects that improve access to rural feeder roads. The 12km Apete-Awotan-Akufo Road which leads to the Akufo Agribusiness Hub (previously farm settlement), the 34.85km Oyo-Iseyin Road which leads to the Fasola Agribusiness Hub and the 45.3km Saki-Ogbooro-Igboho Road are being reconstructed while the 76.67km Ogbomoso-Fapote-Iseyin Road is being constructed.
2. Establishment of cottage industries in commodities clustered areas (P.P.P.).
The construction of the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub is in advanced stages and businesses like Chief Quails Limited and SWAgCo Limited have already started producing crops there while FreislandCampina WAMCO Nigeria has signed an MOU for livestock production.
3. Cassava products processing plants (long term, 4 years).
Achieved during the second year in office.
4. Fruit processing plants [short term if linked with existing processors (1 year) but medium to long term if new off-takers will be brought in].
Not yet commenced.
5. Meat processing industries (long term, close to 4 years).
Not yet commenced.
6. Modern central fish market (short term, 1 year).
Not yet commenced.
7. Agricultural training centre for youths at farm mechanisation (short term, 1 year through the collaboration with the educational and agricultural research institutions in the state).
The Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) has been collaborating with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to train youths at the Oyo State-IITA Youth Agribusiness Incubation Park Centre currently hosts 100 youths who are undergoing training. This commenced in the second year in office and is ongoing.
8. Expansion of School Agricultural Programmes (short term, 6-12 months).
In the past year, the Oyo State Government approved the expansion of the Start Them Early Program (STEP) in an additional 6 schools in all geographical zones in the state. STEP introduces agribusiness development to secondary school students in Oyo State and is facilitated by the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
9. Small scale irrigation schemes for farms on existing dams in the four agricultural zones (short term, one year).
Not yet commenced.
10. Possible collaboration with the Federal Government on the use of the silos in the state (short term, 1 year).
The silo project is ongoing.
11. Mobilize small farmers for action by supporting them with these agricultural inputs while training them on the timely use of such inputs at the required quantities.
The Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) has been supporting 20,000 smallholder farmers with inputs like fertilisers, herbicides, seeds and water pumps under the Oyo State COVID-19 Action Recovery and Stimulus (OyoCARES) programme which is supported by the World Bank. The programme will run for 2 years from June 2021 and distribution has already been carried out in Ibarapa and Ogbomoso Zones of the state.
12. Small experimental plots on farmers’ farmlands will be utilised per village to let the farmers see the difference between their own practice and the improved practice first-hand. Farmers who are resident in villages will be identified and their farms used as demonstrations farms for others to emulate.
The planned allocation of 1,000 hectares of land at the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub to youths drawn from the Youth Entrepreneurship Agribusiness Project (YEAP) list to cultivate.
13. Link farmers with the markets through a whole wide range of approaches such as:
a. Ensuring that the farmers actually have access to subsidized inputs (fertilizers, improved seeds, tractor hiring etc). This means that the list of registered farmers in the state must be validated and updated to weed out fake farmers’ names and register authentic ones, with the GPS of their farms adequately recorded to prevent multiple uses of particular farmland by many fictitious farmers. In addition, the State Government can complement the efforts of the Federal Government in the supply of subsidized inputs. (Short term, 1 year and continuous).
See 11 above.
b. Contract farming to ensure a linkage of farmers with already established processing plants in the state and neighbouring states. This will be done to prevent underground buying and selling. (Short to medium term 1-3 years).
Achieved during the second year in office.
c. Linking some farmers with the Staple Crop Processing Zones closest to them in order to take advantage of the existing markets for the farmers’ products in those zones. (Continuous from day one in office).
In the past year, preparations were finalised for the launch of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) which is backed by the African Development Bank (AfDB). SAPZ will commence in a 300-hectare facility in Atan Community in Akinyele Local Government Area.
d. Linking up the state with the Fadama AF so that some farmer groups can benefit from the grant already provided by the Federal Government to states to produce food. This calls for the full monitoring of activities of the state Fadama Coordinating Office to make the best use of such funds which will be available for the farmers. Currently, the Oyo State Fadama has facilitators which we can depend upon by retraining them as demonstrators for the farmers in the small demonstration plots, so as to convince the farmers of the need to adopt new and improved cultural operations for their farming. This will facilitate the imbibing of best management practices. (Immediate short term on assumption of office, 3 months).
The Fadama project has ended.
e. Provision of adequate agricultural extension services by making the living conditions in the agricultural production sites conducive through the provision of rural infrastructure such as electricity, health facilities, potable water, and good roads, among others. (For road grading and water supply, short term; 1 year. For electricity, health facilities, medium term).
The plan to upgrade the 9 farm settlements in Oyo State to agribusiness industrial hubs is on course. The contracts for 3 of the farms settlements have been awarded and work is in advanced stages at the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub while the Eruwa Agribusiness Industrial Hub will be flagged off this 2022. Akufo will commence when Fasola has been completed.
f. Prepare a backup framework for acting as buyers of last resort in case of market failure. (Medium term, 2 years).
There is market linkage in place through public private and development partnership. The Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) also facilitates linkages between farmers and off-takers/buyers.
g. Adequate and sustainable irrigation infrastructure strategy. (4 years).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Oyo State Government and Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority for irrigation of farms in Oyo State during the second year in office.
h. Also, in the medium-term framework, young agropreneurs will be encouraged to take up farming by revitalizing the farm settlements in the state to accommodate these youths. At such farm settlements, farmers will have access to basic amenities especially primary schools for the education of their children, good housing, roads, stable electricity and linking the farmers to subsidised input markets and off takers. (Medium term, 3 years).
Three farm settlements in Oyo State (Akufo, Eruwa and Fasola) are being upgraded into agribusiness industrial hubs which will have modern facilities and create employment opportunities for young people. Work has commenced at Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub.
Also, as part of the Agribusiness Education project, the Start Them Early Project (STEP) is now being implemented in 10 schools across the geo-political zones of the state (see no 8 above).
In the past year, over 3,000 youths from all 33 local government areas of the state were trained in technology-driven food systems under the Youth Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project (YEAP). The two-week training was conducted at the CSS Integrated Farms, Gora, Nasarawa State in batches of 300 youths at a time.
i. The government will make adequate credit accessible to farmers and agro-entrepreneurs. They will be assisted with a take-off loan which must be repaid at a specified but convenient rate and time period for the youths. The credit for the generality of the farmers will be designed in a manner that repayment is not cumbersome. (Short term, 1 year).
Loan facilities are available to farmers under the Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS) at a single digit rate.