Kwara state government has launched a pilot scheme of 500-hectare Farm Kwara in Ifelodun local government in Ifelodun local government to help create farming communities, improve the productivity of smallholder farmers, and boost food security in the state. The Farm Kwara initiative is being facilitated by the government which would help young farmers to get land and financial facilities which would all be paid back under a win-win arrangement. Deputy Governor Kayode Alabi, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary Kwara State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mariam Nurudeen Muhammad, said that at least half of the youth beneficiaries would be women and that participants will be provided with inputs, mechanisation and technical support to ensure sustainability in partnership with private sector partners. Muhammad said, "Today's programme is another effort at ensuring food security and develop and expand the vast agricultural potential of the state and the nation at large. For a nation to achieve food security, we must first ensure transformation of the agricultural sector from the age-long subsistence practice to a productively smart and innovative enterprise that is not only eco-friendly but sustainable. "This can be achieved by attracting modern techniques in agricultural commodity values in the state. This is essentially the hallmark of the National Youth Farm Programme. On our part as a government, we will leave no stone unturned in meaningfully engaging our youths and women in different productive ventures to fight hunger and poverty in our land.” Speaking, Technical Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture, AbdulQowly Olododo said that the programme is one of the initiatives of state Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to ensure that youths are gainfully employed. He said, "Basically, the government has supported with land clearing and this project is being supported by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Sterling Bank and IITA, Ibadan, to engage the youth on agribusiness." "This is a pilot scheme because it will spread across all the 16 local governments of the state. What we want to achieve is to significantly reduce the rate of unemployment among youth. By time it spreads across the 16 local governments, you can imagine the ripple effects on the economy. It is not in the farm alone; other people along the value chain will benefit from this initiative. So, it is a way of reducing unemployment and engaging our youth productively." Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Community Intervention, Kayode Oyin-Zubair said that the programme is a part of their efforts to develop rural communities and allow rural dwellers to stay in their natural adobe He said that the farmers and investors will jointly benefit from Te programme, and the government will not interfere in the scheme to ensure its success and sustainability because interference in the past did not allow such programme to succeed. Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Job creation, Aliyu Alhassan explained the initiative is designed to nurture agripreneurs, would be commercially-driven. While stating that the state government had already cleared the 500 hectares of land for the benefiting farmers in Adanla, he said the same will be replicated across the 16 LGAs in the state. According to him, "Farm Kwara is one of the programmes put in place by the government to empower and engage the youths across the state. Apart from this, the government is recruiting 4701 teachers into SUBEB and Teaching Service Commission while recruitment is also ongoing into the state civil service commission and Kwara State Internal Revenue Service to reduce unemployment and fight poverty in the state." In addition, Elerin of Adanla, Oba David Oyerinola Adedunmoye said that the state governor is changing the face I'd agricultural actor of the state, which is a clear demonstration and confirmation of the rural transformation agenda among several other laudable programmes which the government is implementing. He urged the government to make the scheme a revolving one road check unemployment and fight poverty in the land.
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