Nigeria Content Online

The Ondo State
governor, Olusegun Mimiko on Tuesday restated his administration’s
determination to tackle youth unemployment through modern agriculture.
He made this declaration while inspecting facilities at the state’s
Caring Heart Agric Village, Ore in Odigbo Local Government Area of the
state.

Mr Mimiko, who
disclosed that two of such villages will soon take off in other parts
of the state, advised the 1500 graduate resident farmers who are the
first batch of over 10,000 graduate farmers expected to be accommodated
in the village, to be focused and show seriousness.

“Everything you are
seeing here today has been put in place in the last three months,” the
governor said. “I want to encourage all of you young graduate farmers
that this is about you. It is about the future of this state. It is
about a task to be chosen by a nation if it wants to get out of the
poverty. Through your activities here, I believe that Nigeria will come
to learn that farming is a profitable venture and it is one avenue that
we can explore to ensure that we defeat youth unemployment in Nigeria.”
He said the state government decided to make the village comfortable
for its inhabitants so that they can also concentrate on their job.

“All the crop
farming activities here will be tractor-driven; your weed control will
be chemically done; each of you will be empowered with facilities for
crop farming, fish farming, poultry farming, mushroom farming and I’m
sure five months down the line, you will be the envy of your colleagues
because your income will be much more than what you will earn if you
get government job,” he said.

“So I want to
encourage you to put your heart into what you want to do here. Like I
said, you are pioneers. We are building three other villages, two
others like this in the first phase. The second one is going on in Epe,
Ondo East Local Government while the third one is in Auga, Akoko axis,”
the governor said.

Work the farms

Mr Mimiko, who said
there will also be cattle ranching in Auga Akoko, said he will still do
a formal commissioning of the village when the farmers are all settled
in. “When I come to commission it, I want to see your farms. I want to
see how you are doing with your farms, I want to be able to assess your
income,” he said.

Chairman of the
State Wealth Creation Agency, Bisi Adegoke said 47 hectares of maize
have been harvested, 80 hectares of cassava planted and ready for
allocation to participants, while 15 kilometres of new internal farm
roads have been constructed at the village.

He added that
government has constructed 300 fish ponds, planted 800,000 oil palm
seedlings while 70 self-contained housing units and poultry farms have
been completed.