Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola says the race to delivering food sufficiency and making Osun State the food basket of the South West region was very much on course.
Oyetola said this on Tuesday at the presentation of agricultural commodities to Women in Rural Communities by the Ilerioluwa Development Initiative, a Non-Governmental Organisation.
This is even as the wife of the Governor, Alhaja Kafayat Oyetola, empowered 500 women farmers with various agricultural commodities.
The NGO which is owned and funded by the Wife of the Governor, who doubles as the President of the organisation, was founded to provide welfare, economic and empowerment services to the people and to complement government’s social investment programme aimed at banishing poverty, hunger and misery in the State.
Oyetola said that his administration had developed a modality to change the narrative, bring desired change and encourage people’s participation in agriculture.
The initiative according to the Governor was to encourage the farmers to get involved in the transformation of the fortune of the State through a realistic economic diversification process.
He said the state has set up a committee to coordinate, cultivate and rally the crop and livestock farmers across the State to ensure peace and deliver an enabling environment for farming and peaceful coexistence.
He commended his wife, the initiator of the programme, for complementing government’s efforts at repositioning agriculture in particular and making life more meaningful and worthwhile for the people in general.
“Ilerioluwa Development Initiative has become a critical part of the IleriOluwa Family, providing welfare, economic and empowerment services to the people and complementing our social investment programme aimed at banishing poverty, hunger and misery in the State,” he said.
In her remarks, the Wife of the Governor said the initiative was designed to serve as a catalyst to revive the lost glory of the agriculture sector.
She said the organisation has been executing masses-oriented programmes designed to lift people, particularly the women from the scourge of abject poverty.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Adedayo Adewole, commended the leadership of Ilerioluwa Development Initiative for their prompt intervention to turn around the fortune of agriculture and make life prosperous for farmers.
Adewole disclosed that over 1,000 old chicks, 1,000 cashew seedlings, 1, 000 cocoa seedlings and over 200 bundles of cassava had been set aside to be distributed to women farmers.
