Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), the founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), stated on Thursday, October 06, 2022 that hunger was the primary source of insecurity in the nation because an angry individual is inevitably going to be angry and violent.
At the opening ceremony of the annual Afe Babalola Agric Expo, code-named “ABA-EX,” held on the ABUAD campus, the legal icon, who presented N34 million cash awards to 81 farmers selected from the 16 local councils of the state, stated that poverty is the main issue facing the nation.
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“When we were young, there was no hunger because we were all farmers. There is a popular adage that when you take hunger away from a man, then you have lessened his poverty.
“We must return to the farm so that we can feed ourselves and guarantee food security. There is no gainsaying that farming is very important, starting from gardens in our homes,” he said.
Governor Kayode Fayemi stated that the state government provided free lands as incentives to investor-farmers coming to invest in Ekiti. He was represented at the occasion by Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Olabode Olatoyi.
He stated: “We have spent billions of naira on our farmers in the last four years and that is why you see that our farmsteads are active now. As incentives for farmers coming to Ekiti, the government will provide land for you and some are even cleared.
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“All these we are using to encourage farmers to grow more crops in the state. That is why you see farmers all over our farm settlements across the state and that is why we are supporting ABUAD for food security so that we have enough food in Ekiti State.”
It was the eighth edition of the agricultural expo, according to Prof. Abiodun Ojo, chairman of the local organising committee, who also noted that N150 million had already been spent.
“We have invested roughly N150 million on the seventh ABA-EX that we are holding. The N150,000,000 is for a seven-year period. We spent N32 million the year before, and this year we are spending N34 million.
Prof. Olugbenga Aribisala, the keynote speaker, pleaded with the state government to solve the issue of farmer insecurity immediately.
Instead of concreting, which leads to flooding, he advised people to use the available land in their homes for gardening.
