Afe Babalola Empowers Outstanding Ekiti Farmers with N11.2m

Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti

Founder of the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola has presented the  sum of N11,200,000 as empowerment for some farmers found to be most outstanding   across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state.

The legal icon and foremost eduprenueur presented the cheques in the Institution during the weekend at the 9th edition of the grand finale of Aare Afe Babalola Agric Expo (ABAEX), now Afe Annual Farmers Exhibition (AAFEX).

Speaking with journalists, Afe Babalola said the goal of the Initiative, since its inception in 2014, is to revive the interest of the masses, educated folks, the rich, the academics, and others to invest in agriculture.

The legal icon noted that technology has come to stay in the contemporary world, hence the need for farmers to familiarise themselves with modern technologies for mass production of farm produce for the sustainability of food security.

To achieve this, he called on the administration of Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti state to assist and advise the 16 local government areas in the state to purchase Agricultural implements for farmers to hire.

He also tasked federal government to advise Bank of Industry and Bank of Agriculture to assist farmer cooperative societies.

In his words: “How many of us can buy this modern equipment? The modern equipment enable rich and highly educated people to engage in large scale modern agriculture, where as in Nigeria, we continue to use cutlasses and hoes, thereby making farmers in Nigeria to continue to use cutlasses and hoes, thereby engaging in small scale farming.

“State governments should assist and advise local government to purchase Agricultural implements for farmers to hire.

“We must put pressure on government to advise Bank of Industry, and Bank of Agriculture to assist farmer cooperative societies.

“The federal government should please encourage banks to give soft loans to Agric cooperative societies.

“Farmers must form cooperative societies and use their lands as security to obtain soft loans from Bank of Agriculture. The said cooperative societies can then buy modern agricultural implements which farmers can hire to enable them engage in modern agriculture.”

Giving the breakdown of the cash prizes, each LGA in Ekiti state received total sum of N575,000, which was shared among five winners, and amounted to N9.2 million across the 16 LGs.

Meanwhile, another N2 million was presented to the overall best farmer of the year 2023, Agbemuko Abiodun Olasebikan from Ijero LG, for his outstanding performance and contribution to the agricultural sector.

Other highlights include the empowerment of 32 youths on entrepreneurial skills, presentation of awards to notable individuals, where  Afe Babalola was recognised  as an “Outstanding Farmer” for his contribution to agrarian and agroforestry farming.

In his goodwill message, the representative of Nigerian National Commission for UNESCO, Abuja, Dr Olagunju Idowu hailed Afe Babalola’s giant strides towards the realisation of Social Development Goals (SDG) 2030.

He commended the legal icon for being in the forefront of eradicating hunger in Ekiti State, adding that the state has been outstanding in the whole Africa for its quest towards the eradication of hunger.

He thereby, urged the Nigerian youths to invest in agriculture as white collar jobs are no longer rampant in the country.