The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, has urged farmers in the state to adopt and utilise opportunities in the organic system of farming for rural development, and sustainable agricultural practices. The governor said the decision was part of his administration’s efforts to improve agriculture and food security in the state. Oyebanji stated this in Ado-Ekiti while playing host to a team from the Justice Development and Peace Initiative (JDPI), championing organic farming, led by the Bishop of Ekiti Catholic Diocese, Most Rev. Felix Ajakaye.
He explained that embracing organic methods of farming would go a long way in boosting food production, improving the standard of living, and ensuring that the people live long and healthy while the environment becomes cleaner. The governor, who also lauded the various contributions of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti to the socio-economic development of the state, said a team of the government would sit with the non-governmental organisation, to brainstorm and agree on a road map towards providing necessary equipment and how best to utilise organic farming to advance the state agriculture sector.
“I must thank Bishop Ajakaye for, once again, leading from the front and the Catholic diocese for always coming up with initiatives to assist us as a government and as people because if we are able to organise ourselves, we will live well, longer and there will be less stress on medical facilities and the environment will become much cleaner. But we need a lot of work to do to bring our people to that point, and to do this, we have to be extremely deliberate because most of the health hazard we have today is self-inflicted because we don’t eat right, we don’t live well and we overlook a lot of things; maybe because of culture, environment, or ignorance”, he added.
Earlier, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Akingbade, who spoke on behalf the NGO, said the purpose of the meeting was to inform the governor about the campaign for organic agriculture as a key life saver and to seek the Ekiti State government’s support in using the method to encourage rural development, self-transformation and sustainable agricultural practice.
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