The Ogun State Government has called on farmers and stakeholders to fully utilise agricultural infrastructure provided by the present administration to reduce post-harvest losses.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Bolu Owotomo, made the appeal at the Ogun Agricultural Infrastructure Sustainability Forum held in Ibara, Abeokuta.
He described the forum as a critical move to maximise government investments, strengthen the agricultural value chain and address rising losses after harvest.
Owotomo said the state’s agricultural drive gained traction under the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP), which has registered over 160,000 farmers through the State Farmers Information Management System.
According to him, the initiative has improved access to finance, enhanced farm management and expanded production capacity.
“Beyond financial support, over 40,000 farmers have benefited from targeted capacity-building programmes across cassava, rice, aquaculture and poultry value chains.
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“Participants were organised into clusters to promote economies of scale, enhance collaboration and improve market access.
“Government interventions have supported more than 35,000 cassava and maize farmers, over 4,000 fish farmers and more than 1,000 poultry farmers with critical inputs,” he said.
He noted that up to 40 percent of food produced nationwide is lost to post-harvest losses.
To address the gap, the ministry conducted an infrastructure needs assessment and launched “Operation Overdrive.”
Owotomo said the initiative delivered five fish processing centres, a 140,000-capacity broiler facility, a poultry processing plant with capacity for 5,000 birds per day powered by a one-megawatt solar grid, as well as solar dryers, warehouses and cassava processing centres.
He urged farmers to maximise the facilities to increase yields and reduce waste, stressing the need for sustainability frameworks and stronger stakeholder collaboration to boost incomes and food security.
Owotomo commended Governor Dapo Abiodun for his commitment to farmers’ welfare and expressed confidence that the forum would produce practical strategies to sustain returns on agricultural investments.
Also speaking, a representative of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Oluyemisi Folarin, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Leke Otegbeye, underscored the importance of inter-ministerial cooperation and private-sector participation in strengthening Ogun’s agricultural productivity and value addition drive.
The Programme Manager of the OGSTEP Agric Sector, Oluseyi Olugbire, said the forum was convened as a multi-stakeholder platform to deliberate on best practices, operational models and maintenance strategies.
He added that discussions also focused on financing mechanisms and collaborative approaches to safeguard the longevity and efficiency of state-backed infrastructure.
The Chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria in the state, Alhaja Ganiyat Adeoye-Kusimo, commended the government’s interventions to improve food production and farmers’ livelihoods.
