The Federal Government has been called upon to boost the nation’s economy through huge funding of the agriculture sector and pegging the interest rate on loans for farmers and agro-allied industries at single digit. The Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) made the call at the third Ondo State International Agricultural Show and Fair (OSIAFFA), organised by the Ondo State Agricultural Commodities’ Association (OSACA) in conjunction with JB Farms, held in Akure.
Akeredolu, who was represented at the fair by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Princess Oladunni Odu, also called on the President to design a financial policy that would peg interest rate at single digit per cent. He expressed confidence in exploring the agriculture sector as means of repositioning the nation’s economy. The Chairman of OSACA, Gbenga Obaweya, also urged President Tinubu to focus more on the sector and inject more funds with a view to enhancing the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) to stem current economic challenges facing the country. He charged the President to subsidise agricultural inputs to boost the sector and make agriculture produce and products affordable for the citizens, while calling on the Federal Government to beef up security in the country to check incessant attacks being faced by farmers.
Obaweya further stated that the association would continue to focus on empowering local farmers by providing them with the tools, resources and knowledge necessary to improve agricultural productivity, saying “our association will actively support efforts to link agricultural commodities to economic growth, creating opportunities for entrepreneurship and job creation”. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, who was represented by the State Coordinator of FMAFS, Akeem Ogundeko, tasked farmers to embrace organic farming. The minister advised farmers to reduce to the barest minimum, the use of inorganic chemicals and embrace organic farming, so as to produce what would be acceptable at the international market.
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