The British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation in collaboration with the Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture has supported no fewer than 500 maize farmers in the state with farm inputs.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Bolu Owotomo, said this at a capacity building and inputs distribution for smallholder maize farmers across the state on Friday in Abeokuta. Owotomo noted that the initiative was to attain food sufficiency in the state.
He added that beneficiaries would be empowered with maize, fertilisers and insecticides. Owotomo added that they were expected to make the best use of the training and inputs to boost their production.
“The exercise aligns with the present administration’s efforts to support smallholder farmers in improving their productivity,” he said.
Owotomo who commended the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation for the intervention programme called for continued private sector support in the state’s agricultural development efforts to attain food sufficiency.
“I want to encourage local and other investors to explore investment opportunities in the agriculture sector.
“Our administration has resolved to continue to synergise with various development partners through different initiatives and interventions,” he stated.
The commissioner, however, emphasised the need for the foundation to consider women farmers, especially in rural areas and financial inclusion in their next intervention programmes, to achieve food security.
Earlier, Oludare Odunsanya, General Manager, British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation, explained that the farm input distribution to 500 maize farmers in the state was to provide succour amidst hardship,
Odusanya said that the support would enhance food production and increase the commodity’s availability.
“Our foundation through this intervention has ensured that over a million farmers in the agriculture value chain had benefited from our various programmes.
“We will continue to partner both the state and Federal Government to boost food production in the country,” he added.
On his part, Olanrewaju Kokumo, Chairman, Maize Farmers Association of Nigeria, Ogun chapter, lauded the foundation and the state government for the capacity building and input support programme.
Kokumo added that the inputs support would significantly increase the production rate of maize commodity. He, however, called for sustainability of the initiative to empower farmers in the state, promising that they would make judicious use of the farm inputs to increase food sufficiency.