Ekiti State Government has outlined plans to implement cluster farming amongst cooperatives and communities during the planting season as part of efforts to improve productivity and create access to markets in 2024.
The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Hon. Ebenezer Boluwade who made this known in Ado Ekiti, said that the scheme tagged operation Community-Commodity-Cooperative (CCC) is a potential game changer that can significantly improve the efficiency of smallholder farmers.
Hon. Boluwade said that cluster farming would enhance food security within the state and significantly allow smallholders to pool their resources together which would lead to increase in productivity.
According to him, cluster farming would also engender proper coordination and collaborations that would make marketing products less stressful, adding that it would similarly reduce transaction costs as well as lower information asymmetries and improve bargaining power.
Stressing that cluster farming would boost efficiency of smallholder farmers and shape their productivity; Boluwade said that implementing cluster farming would help propel smallholder farmers into commercialization as high yield commodities would be planted on the clusters and subsequently linked to off takers.
Boluwade said that under the scheme, communities or cooperatives that have unencumbered land would send an Expression of interest for cluster based land clearing operations to be done by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
He stressed that the land slated for farming by any community or association must however be free of any encumbrance with a letter of no objection from the traditional rulers in the area.
Other conditions spelt out by the Commissioner include crops of commercial advantage must be identified to be planted, land with water bodies will be preferred and a minimum of contiguous (sharing a common border) 10ha of land.
He called on all interested cooperatives and communities to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the State Government by applying through the State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security or any of the Extension Officers in all the Local Government Areas of the State to be part of the programme.