In pursuance of its Agricultural Transformation Agenda, an offshoot of the National Agricultural Transformation Agenda, Kogi State Government, through the Cocoa Rebirth Committee, has distributed 90,000 hybrid cocoa seedlings to farmers in the nine cocoa farming councils in the state.
A statement from the desk of the Media Assistant to Governor Idris Wada on Research and Documentation, Mr Ralph Agbana quoted the Deputy Governor and Chairman of the committee, Yomi Awoniyi, as saying that the emphasis placed on agriculture sector by the Idris Wada Administration followed the discovery that it is a major tool for development. Awoniyi who spoke during the presentation ceremony in Lokoja, explained that the preset administration in Kogi State has placed so much premium on agriculture especially in the cultivation of Rice,Cassava and Cashew and now cocoa and urged the youths to embrace farming instead of pursuing sudden wealth, adding that there is no shortcut to wealth except through hard work.
He disclosed that the administration has laid the foundation stone that will make the state the biggest rice producers in the country and urged the people to take advantage of the process put in place to make the country stop the importation of rice that runs into billions of Naira annually.
Kogi State, he enthused, is one state presently undergoing an Agricultural and Industrial Transformation. This, he explained, has been made possible through the signing of about ten memoranda of understanding with foreign partners to stimulate the states economy.
He further disclosed that having made rice a development product,the state now has five mini Rice Mills with the capacity to mill 200000kg per day.
Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Olufemi Bolarin who also spoke at the ceremony hinged government’s focus on agriculture sector on the fact that Governor Idris Wada believed that agriculture will create wealth and employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths. He disclosed to the beneficiaries that the governor decided to extend government support to cocoa farmers ” with the expectation that they can put at least 1000 hectares of land under cocoa cultivation every year”.
Receiving the seeds on behalf of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAON), Kogi State branch, the state chairman of the association, Elder Joe Elebiyo expressed his appreciation to Governor Idris Wada for his commitment to the agriculture sector. He was upbeat that with the gesture, the association will do its part to ensure the realization of the agenda for the rebranding of cocoa farming in the state, initiated by the Wada Administration.
