The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has called on the six governors of the country’s South West states to inject at least 15 per cent of their annual budget into agriculture, stating that this will play a huge impact in providing sustainable food production for the region.
Adams stated this on Friday while speaking with newsmen on the recent protest of the Amalgamated Food Sellers in the northern part of the country, with the blockage of foods to the South West.
He explained that the six states governments can employ expertise, with the Rwanda model adopted for the agriculture sector.
He said investment in agriculture will provide employment, enhance IGR, provide food security, reduce urban congestion and enlarge the coast for participatory modernised agriculture.
Adams also explained that the South West consumed more than N8 billion foods and protein daily and for the northern traders to stage a protest was a clarion call to the South West Stakeholders, including security groups, to provide the necessary security for farmers in order to produce enough agricultural produce.
He said: “It is embarrassing for the North to threaten our region with an unwarranted blockade that is of no use to us.
“I have it on good record that the South spends over N8 billion daily on cows consumption.
“It is an embarrassment for the North to think that they are doing the South a favour.
“I also have figures of the several billions we spend daily on perishable products, but the truth is that the blockade that had been suspended now seemed to be a blessing for us because it will trigger an agricultural revolution in the South West that will definitely change the ugly narratives of the past.
“So, I think it is the responsibility of all the South West governors to swiftly respond to this threat and seek a better approach to enhance both small and large scale farming across the region and further strengthen the security architecture of the region.”
Meanwhile, the spokesman of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, in his view said the South West can conveniently feed itself without dependence on any other region, adding that there is the urgent need to go back to the farm.
The Afenifere publicity scribe described the North’s blockade of foodstuffs as a challenge to the South West, who, before the pre-independence day, largely made its Internally Generated Revenue from agriculture.
Sola Lawal noted that the leadership of Yoruba nation has backed Aare Adams South West Security Stakeholders Group in order to provide adequate security for the people of the region.
Lawal said the umbrella security outfit will help to effectively streamline the challenges of insecurity.
Lawal said if there is security in all farmlands, there will be enough food to produce in the South West.