Governor Babatunde Fashola said this at the 25th anniversary of the annual South West zonal Research Extension Farmers Input Linkage System(REFILS) workshop in Ibadan on Tuesday, reports TheNation.
Mr Fashola, who spoke through the Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, said the state has done a lot to make the agric transformation agenda a success.
He said the state has built a three-tonne per hour rice milling plant to boost local rice production and increase the lands available for cultivation from 30 to 250 hectares. He said the government is planning to increase it to 1000 hectares.
On cassava , Mr Fashola said some areas have been delineated around Ikorodu, Epe and Ibeju/Lekki axis as Cassava Production and Processing Belt (CPPB).This, he said would promote employment and reduce poverty through the cultivation of cassava.
According to him, a modern cassava processing plant to produce high quality cassava flour is in the process of being built in the CPPB. He called for massive food production to curtail rising prices, adding that failure to achieve this could lead to global food crises.
The scourge of climate change, he said, has had effects on food production. To this end, Fashola said the state has put measures to arrest the drift occasioned by climate change including the establishment of climate desk to share information among stakeholders.
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by Lucy Towers
