Africa Press-Nigeria:
In view of dwindling economic fortune of the nation arising from the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the world, Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has restated his administration’s resolve to use the agriculture sector as a platform for the diversification of the state’s economy.
The Governor also expressed the need for the state to convert its knowledge capacity to agricultural technology and achieve higher productivity and yield as well as a reduction in post-harvest losses which the state has suffered for years.
Dr Fayemi made this disclosure during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the state government and a Dutch Agric investment Group, Villam Agric Ltd in Ado-Ekiti. The group is committing N3.5 billion into the project.
Governor Fayemi explained that Ekiti used to be the Cocoa capital of Nigeria and hoped that with the various interventions from both local and international agricultural concerns, the state would soon bounce back to its original position in the sector.
He added that his administration was partnering a number of other institutions like Dangote Group, Promasidor, Stallion Group and a few others to help reposition the sector to improve food production in the state.
He assured the investors that all the resources they require for their activities in the state such as land, water and human capital are readily available for them to deliver on their plans and programmes.
According to the governor, “For us, it’s time to convert our knowledge capacity to agric technology, higher productivity and yield and reduction in post-harvest losses that we have suffered for years. And this is the time to do it as Nigeria confronts the challenges of the implications of Covid-19 on our oil where the price of our oil is going down.
“And when that price is going down, yes, you are the owners of Shell but you are also the agric capital of the world, so you have an alternative, when oil goes down, your agriculture fix in because that is almost on a permanent basis. So we have that to learn from you, and that is why entering into this partnership is a demonstration of where we want to be and the leadership that we want to offer in the sector.
“And you would be the 7th institution that we are doing this with, one of your competitors is already here, Promasidor in the dairy sector, they are helping us with the resuscitation of our moribund dairy farm and we expect that by the time the current processes are completed about 12 to 18 months, they promised that they would be delivering 10,000litres of milk per day in Ekiti which can then go into the market.
