ABEOKUTA– Following a report (not The News Ville) on the real owners of Ogun state rice project at Magboro area of the state, allegedly owned by one Alhaji Bello Zabarmawa, the Alubarika farm clusters have disclosed that that the equity contribution of the state government on the farm amount to 65 percent.
The chairman of the group, Adelowo Salam, while speaking with newsmen said government through OGISTEP and a service provider, Young Agro Service Limited supported the rice cluster with farm inputs and equipments, while the group contributed the remaining 35 percent.
He added that the government contribution which is not limited to provision of fertilizer, and other farm equipments have assisted the group, describing the earlier report as figment of the reporter’s imagination.
Reacting, Alhaji Zabarmawa, who was alleged to have claimed ownership of the farm, express displeasure over the report saying he was misquoted.
He added that as one of the stakeholders under the Alubarika rice cluster, he notified the state government through the service provider, as the harvest approaches, adding that 3 harvesters were provided by the government, through the service provider
” When I saw online that a media organization has claimed the government did not help us with what we are doing on this rice farm. That is not true, I never said that
“This farm you are looking at, has many tribes as stakeholders. We have Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa farmers here on this farm.
“When we started this rice farm, the government supported us 50 percent in the process of providing tractors, fertilizers, and other things and the farmers covered the remaining 50 percent
“When the some farmers were unable to pay the 50 percent for the fertilizers, I gave 30 Million to them to share and get the fertilizers and products needed for their farm.
“After I saw that the rice was ready to be harvested, I called the young Agro services and reached out to the government. The government provided 3 harvesters and covered 65 percent of the work while each farmer was entitled to contribute 35 percent.
“I even keep reaching out to the government to please do more help so Nigeria can be free of this hunger people are talking about.
“If you look at this farm you can see that the government has supported us drastically and people should stop lying that the government hasn’t supported us. We have 200 members who did their registration and we have their names, and each of them covered 1 hectare each”, he said
Meanwhile, when The News Ville reached out to the service provider, the Chief Executive Officer, Ajibola Johnson cautioned anyone trying to use political affluence to sabotage the efforts of the state government on food security.
He noted that due to the performance of the Alubarika Farm Cluster, the state government has promised to expand the land to further reduce hunger, and improve food security.
“The 65 percent is a grant to the farmers and more farmers, over 1000 have further registered to work on the 2000 hectares being processed by the government.
“The government never said they own the farm, if they have said that, why can’t they stop them from harvesting and take the rice to the Governor’s house. He rather supported us.
“Some people may have a political agenda on this, I do not know, I have never voted before in my life, I am not a politician, I am a farmer”, he asserted
He therefore registered his displeasure over the news that Alhaji Zabarmawa claimed ownership of the harvester, saying that his company owned all equipments used on the farm, with equity payments of 65 percent from the government to all service providers.
