Osun Deploys 600 Youths To Agric Programme

Over 600 members of the Osun State Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) have been drafted into the Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programme (O-REAP)  as disengagement programme for the members of the cadets.

The states’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security Mr Wale Adedoyin who disclosed this in Osogbo recently to newsmen explained that the drafting of the OYES Cadets was to boost government’s intervention in the agriculture sector.

Adedoyin, who allayed the fear by members of the OYES Cadets on the proposed disengagement programme explained that the government would also provide soft loan and land allocation for the beneficiaries of the scheme which is code named O-REAP Youth Academy.

The commissioner maintained that the current administration was very serious at targeting 10 per cent of the food in Lagos State markets, explaining that, “we are pre-active in terms of storage facilities so that we would not have glut”.

On agriculture credit, the commissioner disclosed that the sum of N476.35 million was disbursed to 3535 farmers under the Government Guaranteed Agricultural Loan Scheme while N45,622,695.00 was disbursed as O-REAP loan to 268 farm families in the state.

Two cooperative farmer groups who benefited from the loan were provided with 8 rice reapers and 2 multipurpose threshers.

He further stated that 427 hectares of laud were cleared of Mokorie and Iwo farm settlement and for private farmers totalling 64  persons while 624 hectares of laud were prepared for 619 individuals and cooperative farmers.

Adedoyin disclosed that the administration was not losing focus on the mass production of cocoa stressing that the federal government has given the state mandate to raise 1 million hybrid seedlings of cocoa for distribution to cocoa growing states.

He explained that a total of 100,000 seedlings of cocoa raised early in the year had established and has been sold at N10 each to farmers for planting on their farms.

Preparations were ongoing for raising 400,000 cocoa  and 40,000 oil palm seedlings that would be sold to farmers early next year.