The Farmers Association of Akufo Farm Settlement in Ido Local Government area of Oyo State has called on the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, to intervene in the alleged takeover of the settlement by estate agents and developers.
According to The PUNCH, the call was made during a peaceful protest by the Akufo Farm Settlement Farmers Association, at the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency in Agodi, Ibadan, after several attempts to reach the government did not yield positive results.
Some of the placards displayed by the group read, ‘Save Akufo Farm Settlement’, “Housing estate cannot feed the nation’, ‘Say no to housing estate, yes to agriculture’.
The President of the association, Adesola Oludare, explained that they have written to the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency for a meeting, but their letters were met with silence, a development that made the group to embark on a protest.
He said, “We saw some people who came and said they came to make the place a housing estate. All we are saying is that this period of food insecurity is not when the government will make the lands available for developers.
“There are several other lands that can be used for development. There are housing estates that are only bearing names with nothing being done on them.
“What the government should do now is to make food available. Unfortunately, what we heard is that about 40 hectares have been earmarked for a housing estate,” he said.
