Oyo State Governor, Engr. ‘Seyi Makinde, in his efforts to ensure food safety across the geo-political zones of the state, has approved the sum of N600m for tractorization subsidy for arable farmers in the state.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development of Oyo State, Barrister Olasunkanmi Olaleye, made this known, on Monday, while briefing journalists in his office at the Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.
Equally, the Ministry launched a Mobile App named ‘Farmer’s Booking App’ in partnership with ‘Hello Tractors’ for the effective service delivery of the project, with a view to monitoring the operations and activities of the tractors on the site.
Barrister Olaleye explained that the initiative is aimed at supporting farmers to subsidize the cost of hiring tractors on their farmlands, adding that farmers only need to pay 50 per cent while the government pays the remaining anount.
While saying that the initiave is open to all farmers in the state and devoid of political affiliation, He called on the farmers not to subvert the process.
In his words, Barrister Olaleye said, “This is to announce to you the commencement of the tractorization subsidy for farmers in Oyo State. At the last stakeholders meeting held at Fasola Farm Estate earlier this year, the Governor promised that his government would pay 50 per cent of the cost of ploughing farmlands by the farmers. So, I am glad to say that the governor has approved the sum of N600,000,000 (Six hundred million Naira) for that and the programme will start today, Monday 20th May, 2024.
“We have trained our extension officers on the ‘Farmer’s Booking Application’ and we are doing this in partnership with Hello Tractors. What this means is that the extension officers can go to the farm now based on the request of beneficiaries, take measurements and co-ordinates and tell us the exact size of the farmland. This will make it possible for us to know the number of hectares the farmer has and make it possible for us to determine the 50 per cent payable on that.
“We are also going to be working with private tractor owners who are going to be tracked. The Farmer’s Booking App we have is such that, as our extension workers are booking farmers, we can monitor the exact size of the farmland. We can also see the way the tractors are working and know the exact size covered on the same farmland.
“For any farmer to benefit, once a request for the booking is made and has been worked upon by the extension officer, you will pay 50 per cent of the cost of your farmland to the account of the Agric Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS). It is after the payment of the 50 per cent that any farmer can be qualified to have a tractor deployed to his farmland.
“Another thing is that, at this stage, we are not doing beyond 10 acres per farmer because we want to cover as many farmers as possible. What that means is that if a farmer has 20 hectares, the government will pay for 10 hectares. If you have 10 acres, the government will pay for 5 acres. That is the way it will operate for now.
“We understand that the cost of ploughing an acre is N30,000, meaning N15,000 would be paid per acre while the government will pay the rest, which is going to be operational in all the local government areas in Oyo State.
“For the tractor owners, once your job is done, ACCOS will make the payment into your account. For you to work with us, you must be able to sign MoU with us. You will get your tractor tracked. And, with that, you are qualified to be part of the project as announced by the Oyo State government.
“Let me add that a farmer needs to clear his farmland in a way that will make tractors work on it. Apart from that, every farmer is qualified to benefit from the programme. No farmer has to know any political appointee or the governor or any political party to benefit. The only requirement for the farmers is just to have farmland. We are not doing it based on political affiliation. No. The bottom line is, we want food sufficiency in Oyo State.
“And for this project, the governor has approved the sum of N6,000,000 to kickstart the project. The fund is going to be disbursed by the ACCOS as soon as the Ministry certifies that a farmer has been booked and 50 per cent of the total money has been paid. So, we are ready to work with tractor owners who are ready to comply with our terms.
“So, I want to urge the farmers to be honest with the government so that this kind of opportunity can be sustained. There should be no collusion of any kind. The moment we discover any farmer colluding to subvert the process, we are going to remove such farmer from benefitting from the process immediately.
“If the job done on your farm is 10 hectares, it means that the government will pay for only 5 acres. The technology will not allow you to come back to us to say that the job done on your farm is 20 acres so that you can take the whole 10 acres payment. It is not going to work because as you are doing the booking, we are monitoring the process here from our office. So, there is no way any farm can cheat the government.
“We are deploying our tractors into different zones of the state. This is because the planting season is the same and people have started planting now. We don’t want to hold one area down for another. Tractors will be deployed to different zones at the same time.”
Those in attendance include the Chairman of Oyo State Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACCOS), Sheik Taofik Akeugbagold, the Permanent Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs Christianah Abioye, and other directors of the Ministry.
