THE Lagos State FADAMA III Additional Financing says it is set to inaugurate a 13.6km farm access road in Itoikin, Epe Local Government Area (LGA), to enhance access to markets and guarantee food security.

The State Project Coordinator (SPC), Mr Adewole Obayemi, who made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said it was the second component of the project.

Obayemi told NAN that the other five components of the project are capacity building, communication and information, project advisory service and input support, asset acquisition and supporting the ADP, especially in extension services.

He said: “The second component of the project is the Small Scale Community Infrastructure. FADAMA as a project supports our farming communities with roads.

“Currently, under our farm project, we are constructing a 13.6km road in Itoikin, Epe, which is almost completed. Hopefully by the end of the month, it will be completed.

“We are also constructing roads in Ibeju-Lekki and Badagry.

“We are supporting our farming communities with rice paddy storage facilities. As we speak, we have two aggregation centers; we have one constructed in Itoikin and in Ikoiga in Badagry,’’ he said.

The SPC told NAN that the project was also encouraging all season farming with its pilot irrigation scheme known as the Center Pivot.

According to him, the project’s contribution to rice development in the state which is its core responsibility has led to rice yields increasing from 2.5 metric tonnes (MT) to 4 MT per hectare.

“As a project, we want to encourage all season farming, we do not want to depend on the rain-fed agriculture alone, and as you know, irrigation is capital intensive.

“In Itoikin, Epe, a rice producing community, we have a pilot irrigation scheme known as Center Pivot model on a 20 acre of land. That irrigation system is a sprinkler system that rotates around the farm.

“We also provide boreholes, coverts where it is measured, drying slabs for rice processors under the small scale community infrastructure,’’ he said.

Obayemi said the project’s additional financing had achieved a lot in the last two to three years, especially in supporting over 1,000 farmers in Lagos with machine grants for input.

“We have been able to train and build the capacity of over 1,000 farmers in the state and attracted new entrants like lawyers, medical doctors and others and they are really doing well. (NAN)

– Feb.  23, 2018 @ 14:35 GMT |