Unsubstantiated Claims of Malicious Trespass on Farmlands will henceforth be prosecuted -- Prince Dr Olabode Adetoyi

.... Migrant Herders Must Comply with Ekiti Registration Regime

Mr Olabode Adetoyi, the Ekiti State Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, in this exclusive interview with Abiodun Nejo and FUNMI FALAE ex-rays the activities of his ministry since the inception of the second coming of Dr. Kayode Fayemi and the indelible foot prints aimed at sustaining the commercial farming and food security already in place in the State.

INTERVIEWER: Hon Commissioner sir, can you pls provide an overview of your ministry's activities and the current state of food security in ekiti so far under your watch?

 HON. COMMISSIONER: Good afternoon lady and gentlemen. Thank you for finding time to be here. As we all know, Agriculture is one of the five pillars of this administration. Having said that, Mr Governor, His Excellency Dr. Kayode Fayemi is critical about the precarious situations of food security in Ekiti State that is why in his second coming, he has  taken the bull by the horns and that is why Agriculture and Food Security is one of the pillars of the government. How did he want to do it? First is to ensure that he changed the baton. He ensured that the new handlers in the ministry are technocrats. That is, they are experienced in the field of Agriculture. However, Mr Governor created enabling environment for us to produce food in abundance in Ekiti State. This was achieved by inviting investors to Ekiti State, partner with them and then the ministry provides lands. And not only that, we clear land for genuine investors we believe will produce food in commercial quantity so that the excess will be processed for exports. As you can see, I am just coming from Special Agric Processing Zone where we have some of these investors and so far close to 40,000 hectares of land has been marked for that and my Permanent Secretary has been monitoring the process of clearing them and planting of crops such as maize, Cassava, ginger and the likes. All these are to enable us produce food in commercial quantity. Not only that, in order to avoid post harvest loses all these investors have agreed to process on their food. Investors like FMS Agro who has planted Cassava on close to 5000 hectares of land. This Cassava will be processed in garri, starch, glucose and all these will be for local consumption, to other states and of cause exports. This special agric processing Zone is in partnership with Africa development bank and Ekiti State Government. In that area various companies ranging from rice producers already we have GMK rice,their factory is along Erunfun, Stallion rice, Dangote rice have been allotted their lands and of course have commenced production. We believe that by the end of this year there will be enough food in Ekiti State, food cost will reduce drastically in Ekiti State by the time all these production are coming up.

We are not leaving the peasant farmers alone, we are encouraging them and even this year we have earmarked some budget for them in order to take care of some input from them too. We are also bringing our youths into Agricultural development to ensure that they participate in this massive food production in fact some of the investors have requested from us more than 10,000 personnel, men, women and youths that will be involved in this food production. By the end of the year more than half a million jobs must have been created. This are are part of the 

Also all our farm settlements are actively in use, no farm settlements lie fallow. Some are use for ranching. We have given Ikun dairy farm about 600,000 hectares of land to plant crops that will be used for those cattle on the farm and by the end of this month to first week in March, 400 dairy cows will be brought to Ikun and we will having more than 600 dairy cows for us to have our target of 10,000 liters per day. All these will bring down cost of food drastically, will provide employment there will also be technology transfer because most of these investors will impact our peasant farmers.

In the past our budget for Agriculture that I have seen in this state has not been more than 2 percent but this year his excellency has been magnanimous because he is agric friendly and we have 7 percent in agriculture. 

As we all know that Agriculture is not done in the office, I have been all out, from one location to another to make sure we achieve  all our goals. 

Ekiti State through his excellency doctor Kayode Fayemi has key in the school feeding Programme. His excellency has approved the creation of poultry village and this will help our school feeding Programme because we will be producing our own chickens and eggs and of course it will be feeding our children. 

We are of course touching every other aspect of Agriculture like some of our zones that criminals are hiding, I believe in the next one week or so, we are going to convert them to cocoa production zones. We will also encourage cashew farmers too, all these will be processed in Ekiti and this will keep our cargo airport very busy. Those are the things we have mapped out.

INTERVIEWER: thank you so much Honorable commissioner, but farmers in this state see the activities herders on their farms as set back to food security, job creation and wealth creation what are you doing about this? 

 COMMISSIONER : on the issue of farmers /herders we are taking the bull by the horn, even before it escalated in other states, his excellency has created farmers /herders peace committee in the state and this committee is being coordinated by the ministry of Agriculture. S.A to Mr Governor Major Awe is the Chairman of this committee, all security outfits in the state are part of this committee, Miyetti Allah, NURTW, director livestock, PS ministry of Agriculture, head of market women and others are also members of the committee. 

Our terms of service have been explicitly spelt  out. 

Farmers or herders can also come to the ministry of Agriculture to lay their complaints and we shall look into it. We urge the farmers and herders not to take laws into their hands.

On the issue of herdsmen from Ondo has moved to Ekiti, I am bold to say that it is pure fake news. I want to advise that people should stop spreading fake news in order to dis-credit the government. Also at the meeting held, Miyetti Allah has been charged to report any strange herders they may found among them.

Next week registration will commence for herders and farmers for thorough and proper documentations.

Thank you once again.

As we know that Ekiti state has anti grazing law before now which we are still going to put into use, like no night grazing, no grazing on government restricted lands and settlement, no underage grazing. Also there will be registration of farmers and herders in all our centers. 

With these laws and others, we believe it will strengthen us enough. We have identified some forest and areas that may be faced with security challenges and our security agencies, even within the Fulani ensure to work together in order to resolve the problem of farmers/herders clashes.

Farmers or herders can also come to the ministry of Agriculture to lay their complaints and we shall look into it. We urge the farmers and herders not to take laws into their hands.

On the issue of herdsmen from Ondo has moved to Ekiti, I am bold to say that it is pure fake news. I want to advise that people should stop spreading fake news in order to dis-credit the government. At the meeting, Miyetti Allah has been charged to report any strange herders they may found among them.

Next week registration will commence for herders and farmers for thorough and proper documentations.

Thank you once again.