All is set for the evacuation of tonnes of maize to the
market as participants in the Edo State government’s farm settlement scheme in
Sobe, Owan West Local Government Area, have commenced harvest...
The
Public-Private Partnership initiative with Saro Agro Sciences Ltd., a leading
company in agribusiness, was conceived by Governor Godwin Obaseki to create
jobs for thousands of youths across the state. According to Obaseki, the maize
farm is part of his administration’s accelerated agriculture initiative to
boost job creation in the state, as between 50,000 to 80,000 agricultural jobs
would be created before the end of the year in five local government areas.
Speaking at the inauguration of the farm in April this year, Obaseki said maize
cultivation could directly empower several youths in agribusiness. He explained
that the first phase of the initiative targets job creation for 1,000 farmers
through the cultivation of 5,000 hectares of maize farms across five local
government areas of the state. “Today is the first step towards actualising the
200,000 jobs promised by my administration. If we invest in agriculture, we can
do more than 200,000 jobs in Edo and Nigeria as a whole,” he said. The Group
Managing Director of Saro AgroSciences, Mr Oluwole Adeyegbe, the technical
partner for the project, explained that the scheme targeted a minimum of four
metric tonnes of maize yield per hectare, which would be bought directly from
the farmers. He added that the company was also collaborating with the state
government for the second phase of the initiative, which would feature the use
of greenhouse as well as the Cocoa Yield Enhancement Programme.
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