Ekiti State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr.
Olabode Adetoyi has given Terra Villam Agric. Company a week to show
serious commitment on the agreement it signed with the State
government on the lands allocated to it at Orin Ekiti and Eporo or
forfeit them to other investors willing and ready to put in their
resources.
Dr. Adetoyi gave the warning at a meeting with the representatives of
the company in his office in Ado Ekiti.
The Commissioner who expressed his concern over the company’s delay in
the commencement of planting at the middle of September, said that the
action has negated the vision of the governor at putting food on the
table of the people and as well make the state the food basket of the
South West.
Dr Adetoyi said further that the company has not lived up to
expectation by holding down the land and depriving other investors who
have money to take over them, saying that the company should have
looked elsewhere to fund the planting while waiting for the support of
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He reminded the leadership of the company that farming is capital
intensive and time bound, failure of which may be disastrous to
production, stressing that accurate timing of agricultural activities
would encourage bumper harvest.
The Commissioner also frowned at the continued delay in the payment of
royalty on the lands acquired by Terra Villam and advised the
organization to release the Eporo Farm Centre to other investors this
year since it has not done any work there.
While making contributions, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry,
Engr Gbenga Odesanmi said that Terra Villam has no capacity of its own
to embark on the project, stressing that the company ought to have
invested its money and other resources into the project without
necessarily waiting for the CBN. He noted that it ought to have
started planting since the commencement of rain 3 weeks ago.
Also the General Manager, Directorate of Farm Settlements and Peasant
Farmers, Mr Oludare Asaolu, warned against planting of maize in
Commercial quantity beyond the month of September, adding that the
weather is no longer predictable.
In his response, the Quality and Quantity Manager of Terra Villam, Mr
Adefemi Orodeji, regretted the delay in the commencement of planting,
stressing that the company has expended huge amount of money for the
ploughing of more than 400 hectares of land in Orin Ekiti before the
June/July drought that interrupted its programmes.
Mr Orodeji assured that the money being expected would be ready within
the next two weeks and the organization would mobilize back to the
field.
He promised to forward a letter of commitment to the Commissioner
within a week, assuring that his organization would not betray the
trust the state government.
Also, the Land Facilitator of the company, who is the former Chairman
of Ekiti State Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief Kola Akosile,
said that Terra Villam has the ability to achieve the goals, saying
that the company has enumerated over 5000 farmers across 10 local
government areas of the state to be empowered by the company as a
growers while it’s officers were on ground working on the field.