Ondo ready with regional market to boost agriculture

As part of its efforts to promote agriculture in the state and make it viable for agri-preneur, the Ondo State government has concluded arrangement to establish a regional farmers market in the state with a view to strengthening the agricultural sector and provide opportunities for farmers to market their products.

Speaking with newsmen in Akure, the state’s Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade said that the move was part of government’s resolve to focus on agriculture and ensured that farmers got value for their produce.

He added that the regional market, which was located at Owena, Idanre local government area of the state would accommodate farmers from within and outside the state was taking off with 130 open shops and 40 lock up shops. He added that the market was expected to take-off fully before the end of the year.

Speaking in the same vein, Chairman of the state’s  Wealth Creation Agency (WECA), Mrs. Bolanle Olafunmiloye  said that the farmers market would be the first of its kind in the history of the state, noting that it would not only be well coordinated but  would also provide enormous opportunities for farmers to access information, sold their produce in bulk, reduced post harvest losses as well as secured better prices for their produce.

While expressing joy over the level of infrastructural development put in place by the Direct Labour Agency of the state government handling the market project structure, the chairman said that the market would be expanded with modern infrastructure to accommodate livestock farmers.

The agency chairman, who noted that the present administration under the leadership of Governor Olusegun Mimiko had implemented good policies in the agricultural sector, which had encouraged more people to embrace farming, affirmed that the market would be commissioned before the end of the year.

The state government had constituted a six-man committee under the chairmanship of Mrs. Olafunmiloye to facilitate the establishment of the market, have other members drawn from Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Works, Direct Labour Agency, Wealth Creation Agency and Ondo State Agricultural Commodity Association.