BY ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA
A silent revolution is presently ongoing in Ekiti State under the watch of Governor Biodun Oyebanji. It is not a revolution of bullets, violence, street protests or use of force to achieve some ends.
It is a revolution of ideas, a revolution of vision, a revolution of dream, a revolution of a paradigm shift that holds the promise for a prosperous future in the state. It is an economic revolution capable of launching Ekiti into the club of self sufficient states in Nigeria.
The Governor is spearheading an agricultural revolution which has the youths as the catalysts of returning back to land to ensure food security, food sufficiency, making the state a renowned hub of agribusiness via its multiple value chains.
This laudable agricultural masterclass that has the youths at the centre portends a win-win situation in Ekiti State. A win for a visionary government led by Oyebanji, a win for the youths involved in the scheme, a win for agriculture as a sector and a win for the people of the state.
From time immemorial, agriculture was the major occupation and mainstay in Ekiti land, a prominent component of the precolonial Nigeria, colonial Nigeria, the old Western Region, the old Western State, the old Ondo State down to the present-day Ekiti State.
But a combination of declining interest in agriculture, limited yields from subsistence farming, overdependence on oil as the major revenue earner in the country and the allocation from the Federation Account by the states of the federation, among others had adverse effects on the fortunes of agriculture in the state.
The narrative is changing with the enlistment of 930 young men and women in a scheme tagged “BRING BACK THE YOUTHS INTO AGRICULTURE” which the Oyebanji Administration is carrying out in collaboration with a private investor in agriculture sector, YSJ Farms Limited.
Under the scheme, the Oyebanji Administration provides land to the young farmers, assists them with land clearing and seedlings as well as agricultural extension services among others. It also has an arrangement to buy their products for storage purposes thereby eliminating wastage and ensuring steady patronage.
Before the Bring Back the Youths Into Agriculture programme comes on stream, the Oyebanji Administration had done much work on the Special Agriculture Processing Zones located in Oke Ako and Iyemero.
The government also ensured a massive clearing of land across the state to facilitate large scale farming and spent fortunes in procuring seedlings, agro materials and hardware. Through the World Bank-assisted RAAMP, roads leading to major farms, farmsteads and produce hubs are receiving attention.
The Bring Back the Youths Into Agriculture programme appears to be the game changer and the icing on the cake and it is expected to solve the problems of apathy to agriculture, youth unemployment, food insufficiency, abandonment and underutilization of farm settlements in the state established under the administration of the late former Premier of the old Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
The Governor denied himself of comfort inside the cozy Governor’s Office and the iconic hilltop Ayoba Villa (his official residence) on October 1, a public holiday to mark the nation’s 64th independence anniversary and the 28th anniversary of the creation of Ekiti State. He hit the road to pay visits to the three cluster zones where the youths are working to make the vision a reality.
The three locations visited by the Governor are the Emure-Eporo cluster which is dedicated to maize and cassava cultivation; the Ikere cluster which is dedicated to yam and melon cultivation and the Aramoko-Erio cluster which is dedicated mainly to horticultural farming.
A visit to the three cluster areas revealed a massive cultivation on wide expanse of land. Everybody on the Governor’s entourage including this writer could not help but marvel on the extent of work done by the participants in the scheme. Heads will definitely turn and mouths will be agape by the time their yields will be ready for the markets.
The visit of the state’s number one citizen served as a morale booster for the youths who were all excited to receive Mr. Governor, himself a renowned farmer, in their midst. His gesture of leaving his comfort zone and defying the difficult terrain to reach them spoke volumes and would continue to resonate with them for a long time to come.
Apart from interacting with the youths as a group in all the three cluster areas visited, the Governor also stopped at intervals and had one-on-one discussion with some of them asking about their challenges and immediate needs to which he drew the attention of the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Ebenezer Boluwade, for prompt action.
The surprise gubernatorial visit brought some goodies that would soon become reality. These include an assurance on the commencement of ultramodern dormitories in all the three cluster zones, provision of security at the locations and the environs to allow the youths concentrate on their work, provision of vehicles and motorcycles as means of mobility for the participants.
The Governor restated his determination to invest hugely in agriculture, as a form of empowerment for the youths, to ensure food security and to drive industrialization adding that “revamping the old farm settlement strategy of the late Chief Awolowo was the only way to ensure the young farmers stay on the farms and maximize government’s support for the scheme.”
He described agriculture as a lucrative business noting that farmers are among the richest set of people in developed economies pointing out that the participating youths in particular and the state in general would reap bountiful harvest in agribusiness in the long run.
With this huge and bold step taken by Governor Oyebanji, agriculture will no longer be a pastime or mere vocation but is on the path to becoming a big business as witnessed in developed economies. It is sure that the success of the very first set of youths in the scheme will attract more of their counterparts to follow suit.
The seed has been sown, it will soon germinate. This agricultural revolution is another masterstroke from the stable of Governor Oyebanji to ensure shared prosperity in Ekiti and to make the state a destination of choice for agribusiness and a famed food basket in Nigeria.
*Ogunmola is Senior Special Assistant on Media (Print Media) to the Governor.