BY Sola Ogunmiluyi.
Retired Permanent Secretary
OPINION
Food is so essential that without it no man or nation can survive. The rate at which prices of food stuffs are skyrocketing need serious and urgent attention. It’s on this premise, as a former Director of Local Government Affairs and later the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government Affairs, I think I can contribute to the conversation. In line with the 1999 Nigerian Constitution(as amended), one of the core functions of the Local Government is to engage in Agriculture.
In Ekiti State, four(4) Local Governments have the potentials of boosting food production that can feed the entire State. The Local Governments are; Moba, Ilejemeje, Oye and Ikole. These Local Governments are located in the same corridor with advantage of contiguity. They enjoy almost this same savannah vegetation that is favourable for planting of yam, maize, cassava, pepper, tomatoes, okro, beans, water melon and rice among others. These are the major food items we need for now to tackle the imminent food scarcity and food crisis.
Consequently, these Local Governments in collaboration with the Ekiti State Government should plan for Mechanised Farming for a large scale food production that can ensure food security. Towards this, Tractors would have to be made available for use by Local Governments and interested farming groups and Associations.
Good enough, there are two big dams that can service farming activities in the four Local Governments. For information, Ero Dam is in Moba Local Government while Itapaji Dam is located in Ikole Local Government. Both dams can provide enough water for three planting seasons in a year.
One advantage that these Local Governments have is farm land. Between 2012- 2014, the Ekiti State Government directed all Local Governments to acquire 1000 acres of land for farming activities. One would expect these Local Governments to take off from there while more land could be negotiated for, from Community and traditional leaders.
To supervise the farms, these Local Governments have Agric Departments with many staffs almost doing nothing.
However, the big elephant in the room is insecurity issue. Coincidentally, these four Local Governments are border Local Governments. And most of the security issues like stealing, killings, kidnapping and other criminalities occur in Local Governments that are bordered with other States of the Federation..
To curb all these, Ekiti State Government needs to show the political will to tackle insecurities frontally. The entire landscape must be made safe and secured. This would therefore create a conducive atmosphere for full blown farming activities capable of ensuring food production and food security.
From Sola Ogunmiluyi.
Retired Permanent Secretary
