Ogun State government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a French firm, FAN Milk Plc, for production of dairy foods in the country.
The state governor, Dapo Abiodun, who spoke after the signing of the MoU in the presence of the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Jerome Pasquier, at the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, said agriculture remained a critical pillar of his administration and the government would stop at nothing to actualise the dream of turning the state to the nation’s food basket.
“Agriculture is one of our key sectors. We have the land, the people and traditional farmers. Today, we have done so much to become number one in cassava, eggs, and poultry in the country. We are also the largest producer of rice in the South-West, besides being a major producer of kolanuts, cocoa and cotton. Our fish production has become a model in the continent.
“We see ourselves becoming the food basket of this nation and this tallies nicely with President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘grow what you eat and eat what you grow agenda’ and we have keyed into this,” he noted.
Abiodun stated that the state had embarked on various initiatives aimed at reducing unemployment rate in the state. He pledged his government’s support to the private sector, saying: “We see this as an opportunity not just to further increase our contributions to food security, but particularly to allow us reduce the level of unemployment. We realised that agriculture is the easiest and cheapest way to reduce unemployment.”
In his remark, Pasquier noted that the signing of the MoU between the state government and the company would help in reducing food importation and increase food security.Also, Chairman of the firm, Mr. Olayinka Akinkugbe, said that the company was in the state to tap its agricultural potentials for the development of the state and country and also contribute to employment drive of the present administration and the education of the farming community in the state and enjoy the infrastructure that was readily available for investors in the state. (Guardian)