By John Oba
Abuja
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has called on the governors of the six south western states to consider floating a fund called Cocoa Investment Fund (CIF), in order to resuscitate cocoa production in a sustainable way.
He said the fund will have the components of the federal and state governments, as well as the private sector
Addressing the six commissioners of agriculture from the states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, at a meeting, the minster assured that the federal government was determined to ensure that the agricultural sector receives a boost in the region as it was in the early years of Nigeria’s independence.
He assured the six South-West states under the auspices of Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN), commission, on rapid agricultural development in the region as a way of complimenting what the states were doing to transform the sector from a development concept to a business driven one.
“The region is most important when it comes to cocoa production. We are going to distribute 3.5 million pods of high yielding cocoa seedlings. We registered 74, 664 cocoa farmers in the South-West, which is 74% of the entire number of cocoa farmers across the country.
“In terms of the distribution of cocoa hybrid pods, we have done 1.1 million and 85% of it had gone to the South-West states, and all free of charge.”
He informed that 1.4 million of sprouted palm oil nuts will be distributed to the South-West, and also silos of various capacities were being constructed across the region, and promised to boost aquaculture as well, including mechanised agriculture.
Adesina made it clear that the South-West states were not neglected in the Agricultural Transformation Agenda. “I am very pleased that the Growth Enhancement Scheme is working for the region, and we have improved it over two years in your states, and you have been a part of that success story.
“In Ekiti State 28, 000 farmers got their seeds and fertiliser under the GES scheme. In Lagos State 15, 598 farmers were registered. In Ondo state 18, 449 farmers registered under scheme and received seeds and fertilizer. Osun State recorded 18, 192 farmers and they got their seeds and fertiliser, while Oyo state registered the highest number of farmers, at 95, 483, and they got their inputs. A total of 254, 100 farmers were registered in the South-West under GES in 2013.