Nigeria Launches First Agrotourism Village in Oyo State 

 

Nigeria has made history in the Agro tourism Sector as the country has held the ground-breaking and foundation-laying ceremony of the first Nigerian Agro tourism Village project, located in Oyo State.

 

The project, inaugurated by the Presidency, through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, is an initiative of the World Agro Tourism Organisation, in partnership with the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan and the Offer Center Institute of Agriculture, to train and empower about 2 million youths in Nigeria and establish the Agro tourism Village in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

 

The ground-breaking and foundation-laying ceremony to launch the International Agrotourism Pilot project for the Southwest Zone of Nigeria was held at the location of the Agrotourism Village, Lanlate Youth Camp Initiative, Itabo Community, Ibarapa East Local Government Area of Oyo State.

 

The President, World Agro Tourism Organisation, Trust Henry-Ogboi, explained that the initiative is a combination of agriculture and tourism, a new reform in the agriculture and tourism sectors that is all-encompassing, reiterating that when it commences, the village would be a hub for agro-business and agro-technology for young Nigerians.

 

Henry-Ogboi noted: “The project is about agricultural hubs, industrial hubs, tourism, recreation, farm estate, and training center for skill acquisition to train youths. This project is coming not at a better time than when the president declared a food security emergency in Nigeria. 

 

“This place is not a planting center but to help farmers get returns on investment. So, there’s going to be more of an industrial zone here for every farm produce. With that I don’t think we’re going to have a problem with marketing again in agriculture within the Southwest Zone,” he disclosed.

 

In his opening remark, the Director, of Lanlate Youth Initiative, Rev. Fr. Bernard Azeez, harped on the importance of the event, saying the 500 hectares of land donated by the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan is aimed at engaging young minds in the area of agriculture and to also support the Federal Government’s plan to diversify the economy of the country.

 

Azeez stated: “There’s a lot of challenges facing agricultural development in the country. The first is shifting attention from oil to agriculture. Another is trying to convince the youths of today that agribusiness is lucrative enough in comparison to other white or blue-collar jobs. The part of the training and empowerment we must do is to ensure that the story is changed.”

On her part, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, represented by Mrs Florence Akulo, said the foundation-laying ceremony is symbolic and aligns with the objective of restructuring and securing the sustainable agritourism sector in Nigeria for sustainable development and attainment of food security.

 

Speaking on behalf of the community, the Balogun of Itabo Land, Olusegun Adeosun, implored the organisers to expedite activities at the Agrotourism Village so that indigenes of the community could benefit.

 

He said: “We have listened carefully to what has been said and all the plans stated here are so eye-catching and we can’t wait for the village to start up so that our people can benefit from the project. We also want to call on the Federal Government to construct roads for easy access to the community.”

 

Also, present at the event were the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Correctional Service, Alhaji Aliru Nababa, represented by ACG. Abimbola   Ogunyemi and the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence   Corps(NSCDC), Dr Abubakar Audi, represented by Deputy Commandant Raji Atanda, among others.

 

The highlight of the event was the planting of cashew seedlings by stakeholders present, to signify the beginning of the project, and the presentation of the Street Drive Award to all the Military and Para-military agencies in the country.

 

Dominica Nwabufo