AFAN Solicits Support For Farmers

The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Ondo State, has said that the state can attain self-sufficiency in rice and tomato production, if the government assists farmers.

Speaking with newsmen recently in Akure the state chairman Mr Joshua Oyedele, said: “No government that wants to achieve food sufficiency should play politics with agriculture.

“If rice farmers are given incentives and loans by the state government, we will export rice to other parts of the country and West Africa”.

Oyedele advised Governor Olusegun Mimiko to give priority to agriculture to ensure that the sector took its pride of place in the scheme of things, and suggested that the state government should consider engaging retirees in government owned farm settlements.

According to him, if retired civil servants are given the right incentives and put on the farms, they would put in their best and be more committed than fresh university graduates, whom he said, may not want to make a career in agriculture.

Oyedele said AFAN members had cultivated and bred tomato seedlings that would mature within two months and appealed to the state government to assist the farmers so that both rice and tomatoes could be planted in commercial quality in the state.