Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has said his administration would support the establishment of the Integrated Farm Settlements for beneficiaries of the APPEALS – Women and Youth Empowerment Programme, describing the initiative as “a model for other states to emulate.”
Bello stated this Friday in Lokoja at the presentation of the Kogi state APPEALS Integrated Farm Settlement project to members of the state executive council by the state project coordinator, Dr. Sanni Abdullahi Ozomata.
He said the importance of agriculture as catalyst for economic growth “cannot be overemphasised,” hence, the commitment of his administration to making agriculture receive the desired attention.
“Therefore, I am using this medium to call on Kogi youth to channel their energy and knowledge acquired in schools toward agriculture so that the current desire of the federal government to achieve food security and sufficiency will be attained,” he said.
In his remarks, the deputy governor and chairman, state steering committee for the APPEALS project, Chief Edward Onoja, lauded the ingenuity of the state project coordinator in coming up with the idea, noting that the model when implemented would serve as a reference point for other states to emulate.
In his presentation, the state project coordinator said the idea of establishing an integrated farm settlement for beneficiaries of the APPEALS-Women and Youth Empowerment programme “is to develop a commodity-based cluster formation model with associated business investment plan leading to the economic empowerment and livelihood improvement of the beneficiaries.”
According to him, the farm settlements will be located in the three Senatorial districts of the state with 1,700 direct beneficiaries and over 4,000 indirect beneficiaries.
Earlier, in his address, the lead consultant for the project, Dr. Oyesola Oyebanji, commended the governor for his support towards the implementation of the project in the state.
He said the settlement “will enable beneficiaries gain access to common user infrastructure that will support the commercial viability of their agribusiness enterprise.”
