No fewer than 100 cocoa farmers in Isua-Akoko, Ondo State on Monday, benefitted from the 20,000 free hybrid cocoa seedlings, donated by the State Government.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the distribution exercise was the core target of the Cocoa Revolution Project of the Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu-led administration to the farmers in Akoko South-East Local Government area of the state.
Mrs Titilayo Adeyemi, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, who facilitated the programme to the area, noted that the seedlings would further boost the economy of the axis and that of the state.
Adeyemi stated that the culture of cultivating cocoa had been noticed in Isua-Akoko, adding that this was why the state government had deemed it fit to engage farmers in the area.
She said that if the people of the council area could key into the production of cocoa, the income-generating potential of the local government area would improve significantly.
In his remarks, Mr Akin Olotu, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agriculture and Agric Business, noted that each of the beneficiaries would get 200 seedlings.
Olotu, who was represented at the event by Mr Toba Adenowuro, the State Secretary, Cocoa Revolution Project, said that the seedlings were two-year-old, high-yielding and matured seeds.
He noted that the move was motivated by the need to keep Ondo as the number one cocoa producing state in the country.
Olotu stated that the distribution would span through the 16 cocoa producing local government areas of the state.
One of the beneficiaries, Mr Kayode Ovie, who said that he was born into cocoa production, said that the initiative would help him and others in their cocoa businessnan.
