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Ekiti graduate farmers protest herdsmen destruction of N35m crops
Some graduate commercial farmers from Oke Ako –Ipao axis of Ekiti State have embarked on a protest march against herdsmen in the state.
They are complaining over the destruction of their crops estimated to be worth over N35 million by rampaging herdsmen and their cows.
The protesters stormed the State House of Assembly with placards bearing different inscriptions.
They also took their protest march to the offices of Governor Ayodele Fayose and the Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Kehinde Odebunmi, where they laid complaints about their lost.
The protesters decried the operation of the herdsmen in the area, accusing them of destroyed their maize plantation covering over 30 hectares of land and cassava planted on an expansive land of over 20 hectares.
The undergraduate farmers said the programme was initiated under Ipao Youth and Commercial Agriculture Cooperative in partnership with Matna Foods in Akure, Ondo State.
The protesters told the Ekiti State House of Assembly Speaker, Hon Kola Oluwawole, that they started the programme with a sum of N3million in partnership with Matna for the plantation of the crops.
They cried and lamented that their hopes had been shattered.
“Shortly after we started planting, we noticed that some herdsmen used to come for grazing around that area at night. Later, we started noticing the presence of cows on the farms at noon, but we didn’t see the owners,” Rotimi Fapohunda, the group spokesman said.
The Speaker condemned the destruction and lamented that if nothing is done to stop the menace that it could discourage young graduates, who accepted government encouragement to go into agriculture, from engaging in commercial farming.
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