The Ondo State Government has appealed to the Federal Government to rehabilitate rural roads around Fadama farm projects in the state for easy evacuation of agricultural produce.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture, Mr. Akin Olotu, made the appeal in an interview, on Monday, in Abuja.
“If enormous resources are committed to road rehabilitation in Fadama production clusters, succour will come the way of farmers to easily get their produce from farms to nearby markets.
“The essence of production is getting what is produced in the farms to market and turning it into income for the farmers,’’ he said.
Olotu urged the federal government to prioritise for rehabilitation the 41km roads around Fadama clusters in order to achieve the laudable objectives of the project.
Also speaking, Mr Ademosun Salawu, a World Bank official supervising the project, said its objective was to increase the real income of beneficiaries.
“ This is the extent to which the project has been able to upgrade the production level of farmers from subsistence to commercial agriculture and how the project has improved rural infrastructure,’’ Salawu said.
The State Project Coordinator, Mr Olusiji Olatunji, said over 3,000 hectares of both cassava and rice plantation would be implemented by farmers in the state. (NAN)