Ekiti State Government has distributed fertilisers to farmers across communities, as part of measures to boost agricultural production and enhance food security.
The intervention, facilitated through the Office of Community Communications, is targeted at farmers who may not belong to registered farmers’ associations, ensuring more people benefit from the government’s agricultural support programmes.
Speaking with reporters in Ado-Ekiti during the exercise, the Director-General of Community Communications, Mary Oso-Omotosho, said the initiative was aimed at taking government intervention directly to farmers at the grassroots.
She said Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security had earlier distributed fertilisers to registered farmers’ associations across the state.
She, however, said the latest distribution was deliberately channelled through the Office of Community Communications to cater for farmers who were not members of the recognised associations.
She said the initiative was in line with Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s commitment to ensuring government programmes reached people at the grassroots, irrespective of their membership of formal groups.
She said the fertiliser distribution was also aimed at boosting food production, reducing the cost of food and appreciating farmers for their contributions to the state’s economy.
Oso-Omotosho urged the beneficiaries to use the fertilisers appropriately, to improve their crop yields and contribute to the government’s food security efforts.
Representatives of non-indigenous ethnic communities in the state hailed the government for extending the agricultural intervention to farmers from different communities.
One of the representatives, Oyigocho Otache, described the initiative as significant, noting that many members of non-indigenous communities were engaged in farming across the state.
Another community representative, Mallam Audu Isa, described the intervention as a major boost to farmers, stressing that fertiliser was essential for improving agricultural productivity.