Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has unveiled his administration’s plan to embark on 20,000 hectares rice plantation.
He said the farm located in Yewa North and Imeko Afon local government areas of the state will be the largest rice farm in Nigeria.
Abiodun disclosed this during the commissioning of the first phase of the 21km km Iboro-Imasayi Ayetoro Road, Yewa North Local government area of the state.
The governor explained that the farm will also have the largest rice processing factory in the country, thereby “making Ogun State the rice capital of Nigeria.”
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Abiodun said, with the establishment of the farm, his dreams of turning the state into the rice capital of Nigeria will be achieved, adding that both local and foreign investors have signified interest in partnering with the state on the project.
He said: “Yewa North and Imeko local government areas are known for their agricultural potentials and one of my legacies will be to leave these local government areas and have them defined as truly the bread basket of not just this state, but this nation.
“I have called the Head of Service and the Olu of Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, to challenge all our traditional rulers in this area, we are looking for about 20,000 hectares of land.
“We want to turn this part of Yewa into the rice capital of Nigeria. We already have the investors who have the resources to turn this place into the rice development and rice processing centre in Nigeria and I’m deeply committed to that as that will be one of the legacies of this administration.”
Abiodun emphasised the importance of infrastructure, particularly good road network to the development of agricultural sector.
The governor seized the opportunity of the event to flag off the 14km second phase of the road construction, assuring that the project would be completed in due time.
He said, “This road is a 21km road and we do not think that it will be excusable for us not to begin the construction of this road because we cannot afford the entire budgetary provision at the time we were awarding it.
“But to demonstrate our commitment and sincerity of purpose, we chose to divide it into two phases to enable us complete the first phase, knowing that such will convince every doubting minds that we are, indeed, sincere and committed to ensuring that we provided the needed infrastructure across this corridor.”
