By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) has disclosed plans to establish a cassava processing plant in Ogun State to boost the commodity value chain as well as boost job creation for youths in the country.
This was disclosed by the group’s Executive Secretary/Chief Executive, Mr Paul Ikonne, during a courtesy visit to the state Governor, Mr Dapo Abiodun, in Abeokuta.
He also noted that the cassava plant will complement the integrated farm estates to be established in the three senatorial zones of the state – Ogun Central, Ogun East, and Ogun West.
Mr Ikonne, explained that the proposed farm estate would comprise of different agricultural activities including farming, processing and packaging as well as a commodity market, residential and school areas.
He told the governor that NALDA was in the state to reactivates its 700 hectares of land, and solicited more lands from the state government for the establishment of an integrated farm estate in the senatorial zones of the state.
He added that the initiative also planned to establish a garri processing and packaging plant, train 200 graduates with an agriculture and science background in soil testing technology.
He stated that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the authority to create employment and achieve food security through NALDA’s mandate.
He added that the state had been listed among the pilot states for the implementation of ongoing projects across the country.
He said, “Your Excellency, NALDA would be requesting you to provide the lands suitable for this project and as soon as the land is made available NALDA would commence work.
“Knowing that Ogun State has the largest capacity in cassava production, our garri packaging plant would be located in Ogun state, whereby NALDA would be the off-taker from the farmers, they would process it and package accordingly and move it into the market.
“So, putting this plant here in Ogun state would create more opportunities and also encourage the farmers to produce more, knowing there would be a reward.”
The NALDA boss said the projects will create thousands of jobs for the youths of the state as it would cut across the entire agricultural value chain from production to processing and marketing.
He also commended the governor’s prompt response to NALDA as well as creating the enabling environment for agriculture to thrive in the state.
Responding, Governor Abiodun, commended the authority for choosing his state as one of the pilot states for the projects, adding that it will further complement the state’s Agripreneur drive aimed at creating employment for the youths.
The governor pointed out that his state decided to key into Buhari’s agricultural drive because the state remains the industrial capital for the country.
“And to sustain that, we need to continue to sustain our agro produce programme because that’s the engine room of inputs for industrialisation,” he said.
He said, being the largest cassava producer in the country, the state would benefit immensely from the establishment of the garri processing plant, adding that NALDA’s visit couldn’t have been more timely as it complemented the state’s agriculture programmes.
The authority had commenced the establishment of farm estates across the country, beginning with Imo and Ekiti states respectively, while Ogun will be the third to benefit under the scheme.
Modupe Gbadeyanka