L-R: Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; handing over an Agricultural Farm Loan to A beneficiary, Miss Akinwande Bukola, during the disbusement of 500Million Credit facilities to 150 Graduates of the Youth Commercial Agriculture Development (YCAD) Programme, in Ado-Ekiti... on Monday.
Ekiti state Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has presented cheques of Five hundred Million Naira to 150 graduating participants of the Youth in Commercial Agricultural Development (YCAD) programme to boost commercial production of High Value Crops.
The beneficiaries have participated in a two-week Agro-business start up and managerial training programme tagged “Start and Improve Your Business” (SIYB) under the Youth in Commercial Agricultural Development (YCAD) programme of the state government.
Presenting the cheques to the beneficiaries in Ado Ekiti on Monday, the Governor said that each of the 150 participants will now have access to an expandable credit facility of not less than N1.4 million to boost commercial production of Rice, Cassava, Oil-palm and Cocoa.
Dr. Fayemi said that the State Government is directing its attention on deliberate policy measures and targeted investments aimed at facilitating the participation of youths in practising modern agriculture, as commercial entity; adding that this is now being framed by a managerial and entrepreneurship capacity building programme for emergent farmers in the State.
He added that a performance based structure had been built into the disbursement plan to de-emphasize cash disbursement, but emphasise effective business fund utilization for delivery of this programme’s objective.
“I am delighted to inform you that my government, with the support of UNDP, had finalized the engagement of the service of a Business Support Manager to consolidate management of your individual businesses. The manager, with vast technical and farm business management skills, will help in hand-holding you to drive a successful commercial agricultural operation. Also, with several millions of naira committed to the purchase of farm equipment such as planters, boom sprayers, seed drills etc, he will support you in the usage of these newly acquired modern farm equipment for commercial plantation operations”, he said.
While stating that the State Government had made adequate provision for the clearing of 10 hectares of land for each of the beneficiaries, the Governor said that this ordinarily would cost Two Million but the government had taken this off their budget as the parcels of land have been developed for them.
Governor Fayemi said it is hope that by 2014, the state would have been able to generate at least 50% of its Internally Generated Revenue from agriculture; saying that the state government plans to become the food basket of the southwest and in the near future take the Lagos food supply market.
He stressed that it is the vision of his administration to make agriculture attractive to youths hence the step to take advantage of the agricultural potentials for economic rejuvenation and growth.
Advocating for a shift from dependence on crude oil to a return to agriculture, the Ekiti State Governor called for the diversification of the nation’s economy through a focused commercial agricultural development agenda; saying that “this can only be achieved by empowering and providing more opportunities for young people within the agricultural space”.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina commended the efforts of the Fayemi-led administration in creating a conducive environment for a return to agriculture; saying that this shows the readiness of Ekiti state to reduce its dependence on federal allocation.
The Minister stated that the YCAD programme shows that the Governor recognizes the need to replace the ageing population of farmers and encourage the younger generation to exploit the agric sector as a wealth and employment creating avenue; saying that agric is a major way to strengthen the nation’s economy.
Dr. Adesina added that the Federal Government has allocated a cassava processing mill for Ekiti state to process 240 metric tonnes of cassava per day; adding that Nigeria cannot afford to continue to import food into the country.
Last modified: August 8, 2012
