Productivity and employment are issues that are central to the social and economic life of every country. While it is a fact that a country with high productivity is often characterised by a high capacity utilisation (optimal use of resources), high standard of living, low rate of unemployment and great social progress, unemployment, on the other hand, has been categorised as one of the serious impediments to social progress. It generates welfare loss in terms of lower output, thereby leading to lower income and well-being.
It has been argued that continuous improvement in productivity is the surest way to break the vicious circle of poverty which productivity and unemployment have generated in developing countries. Growth in productivity provides a significant basis for adequate supply of goods and services, thereby improving the welfare of the people and enhancing social progress.
Perhaps it is the realisation of this fact that made Gov. Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State to resolve to tackle youth unemployment in the state through massive investment in mechanised farming. To achieve this objective, Mimiko has established three farm settlements under his “Caring Heart” Programme as a pilot scheme. These are: Agric Village, Ore in Odigbo Local Government area of the state, Auga Farm City, in Akoko North East Local Government area of the state and Epe Farm Settlement in Ondo East Local government area of the state.
At the inauguration of the agric village in Ore, the governor enjoined the 1,500 graduate resident farmers, who are the first batch of over 10,000 youths that are expected to be accommodated in the first phase of the agric settlement, “to be focused and show seriousness to the task ahead of them”.
Mimiko expressed confidence that the project would serve as a model and a great motivation for Nigerians to accept agriculture as a profitable venture and veritable tool for reducing unemployment. He noted that all necessary facilities, including accommodation, have been provided for the farmers.
“I want to encourage you all 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 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.
“We’ve made this agric village comfortable for you so that you can also concentrate on your job. The entire crop farming activities here will be tractor -driven, your weed control will be chemically done, and each of you will be empowered with facilities for crop farming, fish farming, poultry farming, mushroom farming and I’m sure this is a solution to our unemployment problem,” the governor said.
The second in the series of the Agriculture Villages in the state is located in Epe in Ondo East Local Government area of the state and it is nearing completion. Mimiko, during a recent tour of inspection, expressed satisfaction at the level of work on the farm where the construction of accommodation for the over 1000 young graduates has commenced.
The governor disclosed that 1000 cows had been ordered for diary purpose at the farm, while about 250 fish ponds are expected to be built.
“Our dream is that there will be no graduate left unemployed in this state in a few years to come. This settlement will be mainly for cattle rearing. We have ordered 1000 cows and I want to say that each house here will have a cow that will produce milk.
“We shall fight poverty to a stand-still. We have no cause for poverty in this state. Over 1000 of our youth are engaged already at our farm settlement in Ore. We are benchmarking employment generation for Africa, we are going to irrigate dry season farming, our strategy is to deliver quality job for our people.
“I can say with every sense of responsibility that we are delivering good services to the people of this state and we shall continue to use our local resourcefulness,” he said.
The Auga Farm City, which is the third farm settlement to be established by the present government in the state, covers about 4000 hectares of land and it is expected to focus mainly on cattle rearing.During a recent news conference in Akure, the state government announced that the first set of arable crops planted at the settlement were ready for harvest.
Chairman of the state’s Wealth Creation Agency (WECA), Mr Bisi Adegoke, told newsmen that Mimiko had also made available 300 male and female cows toward the establishment of a cattle ranch in the farm.
According to Adegoke, work at various departments of the farm is at different stages of completion. He added that 68 young graduates had been engaged at the site. Adegoke said that the Auga farm had since moved beyond the teething problem of transporting materials for construction to recording tangible results.
“We have constructed 60 fish ponds and are also putting up residential buildings. Already, some of the participants have established their own irrigated vegetable farms which they hope will yield all through the dry season. It is also of note that each of the participants at the Ore Farm has been producing 20 crates of eggs per day,” he said.
The traditional ruler of Auga Akoko, Oba Samuel Agunloye, said that the entire Akoko people would eternally remain grateful to the government for citing the Agric village in his domain which he called an agrarian community. The monarch, who promised to offer all necessary supports to ensure that the government achieves the desired result, said that the project had provided job for about 80 artisans in the community.
However, chairman of All Farmers’ Association, Ondo State branch, Mr Joshua Oyedele, was skeptical about sustainability of the projects. He was of the opinion that the young graduates would soon desert the farms for greener pasture in cities at the earliest opportunity. According to him, the projects will yield better results in the hands of experienced farmers and not the youths. (NAN)
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