Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State has said that the roots of economic crisis in Nigeria can be traced to the neglect of Agriculture for oil as the mainstay of our national economy. Senator Amosun stated this while declaring open the first-ever South-West All-Farmers Summit at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta recently.

Represented by the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Ibironke Sokefun, he said the neglect has led to a dramatic increase in poverty as the agricultural sector now accounts for less than five percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product GDP.
Governor Amosun added that it is in order to arrest this unfortunate situation that the Ogun State government has recognised Agriculture as a veritable tool of wealth creation for its people and the industrialization of the state.

According to him his government has put in place numerous policies and programmes aimed at restoring the sector to its pride of place as encapsulated in its Mission to Rebuild Ogun State.

He disclosed that his administration has implement programmes directed at improving the lots   of farmers in the state by encouraging them to produce more with the potentials to produce more.”

Some of the programmes he said include provision of one billion naira soft loans to farmers, purchase of numerous land clearing equipment that are hired out to farmers at subsidized rate, promotion of turkey and fish production on a large scale, the construction of a Model Farm Estate at Owowo consisting of 42 Units of modern building situated on 125 hectare of land and the establishment of AGRI-MART amongst several others.

Earlier, the Coordinator of the summit and Ogun-state Chairman All Farmers Association of Nigeria AFAN said the summit was put together for the South West states to have a rethink and trace their steps back to the good old days when  agriculture was the mainstay of  the region and praised the Ogun-state government for taking the lead.