The Ogun State Government has intensified efforts to strengthen agricultural productivity and food security through targeted interventions across major value chains, supported by a robust farmer database that now captures more than 160,000 farmers and agribusiness operators.

  Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Hon. Bolu Owotomo,  disclosed this in Abeokuta, said the State's Farmers Information Management System (OGFIM) had become a critical tool for planning and implementing agricultural programmes, providing detailed data on farmers as well as other actors, including; input dealers, suppliers, aggregators, off-takers and mechanisation service providers.

Owotomo, stressed that the database had enhanced the efficiency of agricultural interventions by enabling accurate mapping of farmers and value-chain participants across the State, adding that the cassava sector had trained over 42,000 farmers and registered about 89,000 producers under various support programmes to encourage increased cultivation, while government also subsidised land clearing by 65 percent, thus, allowing farmers to pay only 35 percent of the cost which resulted in the clearing of more than 9,000 hectares of farmland.

 He further explained that farmers also benefited from a 50 percent subsidy on critical inputs which included cassava stems, herbicides and pesticides among others to address market challenges and reduce post-harvest losses with beneficiaries linked directly to off-takers, while cassava processing centres were established in major production clusters to promote value addition.

The Commissioner added that the aquaculture value chain had also witnessed significant support, with 5,068 fish farmers registered and about 4,200 received direct interventions noting that beneficiaries enjoyed a 30 percent discount on production costs during a production cycle, just as the State invested approximately ₦2.4 billion in subsidies to support fish farming activities with fish processing facilities, established across five fish production clusters at Ikomba, Ikene and Ilashe in Ijebu East Local Government Area to further strengthen the sector.

 Owotomo, mentioned that the State government attributed the success of many of its interventions to the cluster farming model, which groups between 20 and 25 farmers into cooperatives, with several groups forming a cluster, aimed at improved coordination, facilitated access to inputs and training.

The Commissioner revealed further that efforts were made to mitigate risks and improve productivity as extension officers were deployed to provide farmers with technical guidance and best agronomic practices with the introduction of the off-taker arrangements to guarantee market access and ensure prompt purchase of farm produce during harvest.

"I can boldly say that all these interventions have significantly reduced production costs, increased value addition, boosted agro-industrial activities and improved the availability of food and raw materials for processing industries across the State," he stressed.

 The Commissioner advised farmers to remain committed to existing agricultural programmes while urging everyone to embrace backyard farming of vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce and okra, as well as small livestock production, to enhance household food security and contribute to efforts aimed at reducing food inflation.