Ondo gives discount on farmers’s inputs to ensure food security

Ondo State Government at the weekend said it had provided discounted agricultural inputs as palliatives to farmers as part of measures to ensure food security.

Mr Akin Olotu, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Agribusiness, said this to newsmen in Akure.

He said that the government also had put in place various interventions to cushion the effects of COVID-19 among farmers in the state.

Olotu said the palliative (discount) was structured such that 30 per cent discount was given to interested farmers on inputs they purchased, Daily Times gathered.

He, however, said that maize farmers were given inputs for free on the directives of the governor.

Olotu said that if farmers were not assisted speedily from the havoc wreaked on Agriculture and Agribusinesses by the coronavirus pandemic, there could be food insecurity in the coming months.

“For instance, during the lockdown, poultry farmers could not sell their eggs and it is the proceeds from the eggs that they would have used to buy feeds to keep their business going.

READ ALSO: ‘Why violence trailed LG polls in Ondo State’

“This made some of them to sell off their laying birds in an untimely manner, because that was the only option left for them.

“This situation is not limited to poultry farmers alone, it cuts across all sectors.

So, I discussed with the governor and we looked at what we could do.

“The governor said we had to intervene to cushion the adverse effect of COVID-19 on the farmers so, that we will be able guarantee our food security in months ahead,” the governor’s aide said.