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500 farmers get incentives for food sufficiency

By BusinessNews Staff on August 31, 2014

Five hundred farmers from across 13 local governments in Oyo North senatorial district of Oke-Ogun and parts of Ogbomosoland in Oyo state have been given incentives by the Deputy-Senate Whip, Senator Hosea Agboola, as part of efforts geared towards ensuring food sufficiency in the state.

Oke-ogun is the food basket of the state and largely agrarian community where most of the staple food items being consumed daily by over five million people of the state are sourced from.

Presenting the farming tools to the farmers at a ceremony in Igbojaye, Itesiwaju local government area of the state, Agboola noted that “farmers and indeed agriculture deserve a pride of place in our society”. He said farmers should be provided with necessary incentives to encourage them to work harder for the wellbeing of the citizenry. The farming tools were estimated to have costs substantial amount of the N200million expended on year 2014 empowerment materials for people in the area.

Agboola described Oke-Ogun farmers as industrious and highly skilled people. He said: “These farmers deserve the best of support that anyone in position of authority can think of, hence the reason for the setting aside of substantial amount in this year’s N200million empowerment fund for the selected 10,000 people in entire Oyo North senatorial district.”

The senator also pledged his commitment to education and the fulfillment of his electoral promises as he expended N15million as bursary awards on over 1,000 indigent students in the entire Oyo Senatorial district.

The students, who received N10,000 each, were admonished to shun acts of violence or anti-social behaviour capable of destroying their future.

Agboola noted the only way to give back to the society was to give the youths the basic educational assistance in order to make them relevant in the society, adding that the presentation of tools to the over 3,000 artisans was also in line with his avowed commitment to reduce poverty level in the area to the barest minimum.

He said: “This is the only way I can give back to my constituents. I cannot give you fish all the time but I must be able to teach you how to catch the fish for your own good. “Education is the only means of being a respectful citizen in the society. It will help you excel in this contemporary world and with your little efforts, sky is just the beginning.”

He then congratulated the recipients of the empowerment materials, and urged them to make good use of the money and tools presented to them.

Similarly, the lawmaker also commissioned a block of three classrooms and an ICT centre in each of the 131local governments in the area.

The schools include are the Apostolic Church Basic School III, Olopemarunin Ogbomosho South., Ori-Oke Community Senior High School, Ogbomoso North, UMCA Grammar School, Olorunsogo, Nybrosis Primary School, Oke-Suna Tege, Kisi in Orelope Local Government, Gboro Community Secondary School, Saki in Saki West Local Government and IDGS Secondary School in Iseyin Local Government.

[This Day]

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