BY ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA
Food security has become an important discourse in the nation’s lexicon as food has been identified as an indispensable commodity for man’s wellbeing and existence.
Its abundance and massive production are sine qua non in efforts at reducing hunger and ensuring a well-fed state and nation and making it affordable and available for the masses.
Agriculture and food security have been accorded a priority by Governor Biodun Oyebanji since he came to office and he has invested enormous resources of the state in the sector in his desire to make food affordable and available to the people of the state.
Some of the Governor’s strides in agriculture and food security include revival of farm settlements, procurement and distribution of seedlings to farmers, distribution of fertilizers, procurement of more tractors and other equipments and incorporation of more youths into commercial farming.
Under Governor Oyebanji, Ekiti now has a Special Agriculture Processing Zone (SAPZ), more hectares of land have been cleared to make way for more commercial farming while more investors have been attracted to the sector to generate more employment, boost the internally generated revenue and also make Ekiti an agricultural export hub.
In a bid to beat down the prices of essential food commodities in the market, one of the investors attracted by the Oyebanji Administration, MAO Organic Farms Limited, on Thursday, 5th December, 2024, inaugurated sales of subsidized fried cassava flakes known as “Gaari BAO.”
The sale of “Gaari BAO” created excitement at the Shasha BAO Market located along Agric Olope Road as residents trooped out in their numbers to benefit from the sales of the commodity.
Benefiting from the sales are men, women, students, commercial drivers and motorcyclists who conveyed some market women and customers to the market as the day falls on a market day.
The beneficiaries bought “Gaari BAO” at N500 per rubber which is lower than N1,000 per rubber sold by traders in the market while this selling the product in the neighbourhoods sell at higher prices depending on the location and quality.
The sales of “Gaari BAO” was flagged off by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Ebenezer Boluwade, who performed the symbolic sale to interested buyers whose awareness was aroused by a team from the Office of Community Communications.
The arrival of “Gaari BAO” is one of the steps by the Oyebanji Administration to crash the prices of food commodities in the market in line with the promise of Mr. Governor to make food affordable for the people of the state.
The officials of MAO Organic Farms said they are collaborating with the Oyebanji Administration by producing the “Gaari BAO” in appreciation of Mr. Governor’s “investment, support and impactful interventions in agriculture” which has paved the way for profitable farming in Ekiti.
In a bid to allow orderliness and make the products accessible to the willing buyers, the sales will be taking place throughout the month of December at Shasha BAO Market along Agric Olope Road and Erekesan Market (Oja Oba) both in Ado Ekiti.
To prevent undue profiteering and sales racketeering, each buyer is only entitled to buy maximum of five rubbers at N500 each. The arrival of Gaari BAO couldn’t have come at a better time as the commodity represents an indispensable staple food in the menu of many families.
Apparently impressed with the initiative, some of the beneficiaries who urged the state government to sustain the initiative advocated that the sales should be extended to other food products like rice, beans, yam flour, palm oil, vegetable oil and chickens which use to be very expensive during the Yuletide period.
A beneficiary, Mrs Kemi Alonge said: “I was surprised on arriving at the market to discover that they are selling Gaari BAO at N500 per rubber. I had bought my own five rubbers because it is a very good opportunity. We thank our Governor for this.”
Another buyer, Mrs Rachel Ajewole said: “God bless our Governor for this initiative because this will make life easier for the masses. But we want to suggest that it should also be extended to other food items like beans, rice, yam flour, palm oil, vegetable oil, plantain and chicken which come with high prices during festive period.”
This is another populist initiative from the stable of an administration that prioritizes the welfare of the masses and always looking for ways reduce their suffering.
Governor Oyebanji will not rest on his oars until his dream of achieving food security, abundance and turning Ekiti into a food production and export hub which partners like MAO Organic Farms Limited have keyed into.
Ogunmola is Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media (Print Media)