1,000 farmers begin fish harvest in Ogun

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has flagged off fish harvest at Ode-Ogbe, Owode-Ijako in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state.

Over one thousand (1,000) fish farmers spread across three clusters under the aegis of Trusted Farmers (Ado-Odo/Ota) Cooperative Multipurpose Society Ltd in the LG took part in the aquaculture trade.

The state government gave a 30 percent discount on fish feeds to all the farmers under the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP) initiative funded with a World Bank loan.

The governor while flagging off the harvest on Friday said the gesture was part of his government’s interventions and support to farmers in order to improve on production and crash soaring prices of food items in the state.

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Abiodun, who was represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture, Bolu Owotomo, said “each farmer has been supported to the tune of 72 bags of feed by the state government under the OGSTEP programme.

“They contributed 70% and the state government discounted by 30%. This is in furtherance of our vision to ensure that food production is abundant in the state, to ensure the improved livelihood of farmers and to ensure that price of food in the market comes down.”

The governor assured Ogun residents that they will enjoy a relatively low price in the market with the commencement of the fish harvest in the area.

The Project Manager, Dr. Oluseyi Olugbire represented by the Project Coordinator, Mrs. Mosunmola Owo-Odusi, saluted the farmers for their commitment and assured that more farmers will be accommodated to ensure food abundance in the state.

Cross section of farmers who spoke applauded the state government for the support but begged for the dredging of waterways close to their farms in order to forestall the flooding.

The Treasurer of the farmers’ association, Adeyanju Nathan Oludare said fishes worth N200million were submerged and washed away by the flood in Ode-Egbe and Ewupe clusters in the last two years.

“We are using this medium to appeal to the executive governor, Dapo Abiodun, to please help us dredge the waterways close to our farm to forestall future occurrence of flooding,” he said.