Oyo State governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 general elections, Joshua Olukayode Popoola, has urged Nigerians to embrace farming as a way out of the current economic hardship in the country.

He gave the advice while unveiling another round of empowerment programne that target a large number of unemployed youths in the state. Popoola said that the programme was intended to provide mass employment and boost access to affordable foods for citizens in the state, which he noted, would create the next boom in the country after the oil boom of the 70s with a return of a sizable number of citizens to agriculture.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State government has taken steps to ease the guarantor’s requirements for the ongoing SAfER/Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS) scheme for farmers.

Chairman of ACCOS, Sheikh Taofeek Akeugbagold, who disclosed this, said the step was to ensure more farmers in the state have access to agricultural loan schemes.

Akeugbagold, while speaking with stakeholders in Ibadan, said that the state governor, Seyi Makinde, had approved the inclusion of executives of farmers’ groups to stand as guarantors for interested farmers seeking loans from the State Agricultural Credit Corporation.

In his welcome address, the Coordinating Director of Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State, Tunde Oladejo, urged previous beneficiaries of the SAfER/ACCOS loans to start repayment to the respective disbursing banks.

He added that timely repayment is crucial to ensuring the sustainability of the loan scheme as well as allowing other farmers to benefit from the intervention.