Governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State,,Senator Iyiola Omisore has disclosed how the many agricultural initiatives of Governor Rauf Aregbesola impoverished local farmers and illegally acquired thousands of hectares of land for personal use.
Omisore made the disclosure while addressing thousands of supporters across Boripe local government on Saturday.
A statement by the director of media and publicity, Omisore Campaign Organization, Prince Diran Odeyemi, said the candidate reminded that while Aregbesola introduced more than thirty agricultural schemes, none of them yielded any meaningful result. Even at that, added Omisore, farmers were swindled of huge tracts of land on which scarce state funds were wasted.
According to Omisore, Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programme failed because it subjected farmers to state control in land acquisition, land clearing and tractor services.
The PDP candidate expressed regrets that Lagos-based firms were contracted for all the farming projects, and the cost deducted at source from farmers at high-interest loans.
“The farmers were trapped as they worked on hired land under contracted firms, losing their enterprising freedom and bonded up with heavy indebtedness.
“The attempted collectivization of farming imprisoned farmers in slave-holding farms, reduce farm yields, lower output and accentuate food insecurity in the state”, Senator Omisore was quoted as telling the crowd .
Continued the PDP candidate, “O-REAP acquired over 10,000 hectares of land in each LGA. Till date no gainful employment has been offered .For O-FOPS – Osun Fisheries Out-grower Production Scheme,O-BOPS – Osun Broilers Production Scheme,no positive impact were recorded except the propaganda .
“For O’BEEF, O’ HONEY,O’ COCOYAM,O’ CASSAVA,it was all mere propaganda” the PDP candidate said.
Senator Omisore noted further that “The effect of the initiatives of the present government is not felt among the operators, agricultural businessmen and women and the general public. Farmers are worse off; land owners are ripped off, food security is threatened and job creation through agriculture is denied the army of unemployed.
“The winners,” held the PDP candidate, “are those Lagos firms and new owners of illegally acquired lands.
If elected, promised Omisore, “I will focus genuinely on agricultural mechanization by adopting the federal model in the sector.
“Rather than the present system ,I will create a tractorisation hiring system that removes burden of farmers while at the same revolutionizing farming system in the land .Farm settlement will be truly revived through infrastructural renewal.
“We will stop mere playing politics and propaganda with this critical element of our state agricultural revival.More access to farm settlement through road infrastructure will be looked into in addition .
He listed his priority intervention in the sector as including revival of Cocoal Industry, Ede, setting up state agricultural commodity board ,creation of private sector backed fruits processing plants,setting up of produce storage facilities, and encouragement of growth of private sector-driven cocoa and palm tree plantations.
The candidate also pledged to encourage “active participation in federal agricultural transformation plan ,creation and funding of back to farm programmes,state support for farm mechanisation using federal templates,application of renewable energies in farming ,state guaranteed loan support for farmers among others”.
“My pledge to Osun people on the agricultural sector is that I will be a genuine friend of farmers who will not exploit them through false initiatives. My administration will focus on helping farmers to prosperously farm and create wealth for our collective survival”, he declared.