Commercial farmers allotted farmlands in Ekiti state have been read the riot act by the state government to either utilise the allotted lands or risk losing revocation.
The General Manager, Directorate of Farm Settlements and Peasant Farmers Development (DFS&PFD), Mr. Oludare Asaolu, gave the warning in Ado-Ekiti when he met with farmers.
Asaolu recalled that some farmers in the past who had benefitted from government land allocation later abandoned the farmlands to grow into a secondary forest that constituted a danger to the people.
He said that the meeting was convened to create awareness on the resolve of the government to relate only with serious investors on her farm centres under her integrated approach to farming.
He added that adequate security would be provided for them through the Anti-Grazing Law Enforcement Agency and the Amotekun corps.
Asaolu advised the farmers to insure their farms against destruction through cattle invasion and fire which may negatively affect their investment and output.
The Director of Farm Settlements, Mr Lawrence Jayeoba, advised the farmers to make their payments through the appropriate channels or forfeit the land.
He also urged them to form cooperative societies that would assist them to have direct access to soft loans and security support on their farms.
Lawrence Ajayi, a farmer, appealed to the government to intervene in checking the menace of herdsmen in farm settlements in the state.
Another farmer, Rotimi Babalola, said the government should provide some other incentives such as finance, training, chemicals, and fertilisers to attract more people, particularly youths, into the farming business.
He also called for early allocation of the land so that farmers could start preparation of the farmland for the new planting season.
