Replicating the agricultural policy of His Excellency Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, the administration of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) towards setting up of Integrated Farm Estates in all senatorial districts in the country.

This directive is set out to solve the problem of unemployment plaguing Nigeria and affecting the lives of youth in the country, it is set up to achieve food security within a very short period and to boost food production across the country.

Paul Ikonne, the executive secretary of NALDA who disclosed this on Sunday, explained that it was part of the outcome of his meeting with the president at the presidential villa, Abuja. He revealed that the president is committed to ensuring that the country achieves food security and at the same time, provide job opportunities using the NALDA platform.

He disclosed that the President had inaugurated one of the farms in Daura, adding that NALDA will see to the setup of the remaining 108 farms, in line with the presidential directive.

Ikonne said the Kogi State government has donated 700 hectares of land to NALDA for the integrated land estate, while the 100 hectares of land donated by the Ogun State government has already been cleared.

Also, the Integrated Farm Estate in Borno is 75% completed, adding that in 40 locations, fish villages were being set up to engage women.

According to him, the recent presidential inauguration of Daura Integrated Farm Estate can engage 1,500 young farmers. He described this as an eye opener to Nigerians towards Buhari’s passion in achieving food security.

He explained that arrangements were already ongoing to put up processing centres in all the farm estates to discourage the importation of finished products and to create more job opportunities for the citizens of Nigeria.

Speaking further, Ikonne said “…So, I call on other governors to key into the president’s desire and make lands available for these farm estates to be established, as this will take away youths from unemployment market and engage them and we’ll be able to achieve food security in a very short period of time.”

In Oyo State, the Farm Estate Scheme was launched in the month of May, 2021 where the State Governor  pledged to transform the narrative of agriculture with the view to making it one of the pillars of the State’s economic development through the resuscitation and creation of Farm Estates into Agribusiness Industrial Hubs. As a result, the scope of this project covers three locations; Fashola, Eruwa and Akufo. These Locations are operating Farm Estate with high concentration of farmers and farm activities with outdated farm equipment and infrastructure. The reviving of this Farm Estate is presently one of the tactic to increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Oyo State thereby improving the overall quality of lives and livelihood of the State and Nigeria at large.