Southwest governors have revealed plans for a massive food production in the six states to halt the high price of staple foods, it was learnt yesterday.
The states are to accord priority to rice, maize, cassava and poultry farming. Also, moribund dams in the region are to be revitalised for irrigation.
Last week, President Bola Tinubu had given governors one week to come up with a realistic template on how they intend to boost food production in their states.
Investigations revealed that governors of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states operating under the auspices of Southwest Governors’ Forum have directed their agriculture commissioners to quickly build on the plan developed during their meeting in Ibadan in May.
The meeting, which was conveyed by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, provided the opportunity for the states to exchange ideas on how best to increase food production in the region.
The meeting had agreed on some strategies, including clearing of large farmlands in preparation for planting, creation of farm units, strengthening of the security outfit, Amotekun, to provide security for farmers and their farms, and large-scale production of short-term crops, including maize, sweet potatoes, and vegetables.
They also agreed to revitalize moribund dams for irrigation, improve mechanization across the value chain, adopt a cluster farming model, expand input distribution, and establish an electronic agriculture database.
Checkout Magazine learnt that the governors will this week finalize the strategies on clearing cluster farmlands.
