Adebayo Adenrele
The Ekiti State Government has set up a 8-man committee on Food Security with a mandate to provide support for farmers and enhance local food production, contributing to the primary goal of reducing food prices and addressing hunger in the country.
The committee, headed by the State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Ebenezer Boluwade, comprises the Commissioner for Finance, Akintunde Oyebode; Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning and Performance Management, Oyeniyi Adebayo; Special Adviser/Director General Office of Transformation and Service Delivery, Dr. Moyo Ekundayo; Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Peju Babafemi; Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Oyebanji Filani and the Special Adviser on Governance, Odunayo Ayeni.
The State Commissioner for Information, Rt. Hon. Taiwo Olatunbosun who made this known in a statement made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti on the outcome of the meeting of the State Executive Council held on Tuesday, explained that the committee was to come up with strategy to mitigate food crisis.
Reiterating the commitment of Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s administration to the general wellbeing of residents, Rt. Hon. Olatunbosun stressed that food security goes beyond adequate food supply, adding that the administration considers it to include availability, accessibility and utilization of food as well as the vital role of trade in the equation.
He assured that the State Government would continue to make farming attractive in the State and move farmers from the, hitherto, subsistent farming to improved mechanized/commercial farming.
Olatunbosun highlighted some of the administrations interventions in agriculture in the State to include land clearing for cluster farming in about 30 points within the state aimed at promoting and increasing productivity in maize, rice, and cassava production, distribution of maize to livestock farmers, distribution of SF2 Solar Irrigation Pumps to farmers, facilitation of low interest loans under Ministry of Trade, Industry, investment and cooperatives to benefit cooperative farmers, introduction of the State Tractorization Subsidy Scheme, and renovation of moribund Agricultural Farm buildings to accommodate the Livestock Development Centre(LDC) and Ekiti Youth in Urban Farming project (EYiUF).
Other Government’s interventions are: payment of N20M counterpart fund for Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES), establishment of 2 hectares model polyclonal cashew farm/scion garden, sales of 12,000 hybrid cocoa seedlings at 50% subsidy to farmers, sales of 5,000 polyclonal cashew seedlings at 50% subsidy to farmers, 50% subsidy on tractorization to farmers, enumeration of non-exhaustive crops on 250 hectares of land, Overhauling of the poultry pens at Livestock Development Centre (LDC) and construction of drainage system at the poultry site at Erifun as well as renovation of the existing borehole for steady supply of water at the poultry site amongst others.