Senator representing Osun West Senatorial District, Engr. Adelere Oriolowo, on Monday, empowered 50 people with 100 cattle and startup cash.
Fielding questions from journalists at Iwo during the empowerment programme, he appealed to the beneficiaries to make good use of the knowledge acquire from the Youth in Agric Support programme organised by Senator Oriolowo in selected area of the district.
Oriolowo said, “I charge the beneficiaries to see this opportunity as a mean to liberate them from poverty. If you don’t value little things you have, you may lose big things coming.
“The beneficiaries are 50 in all and were drawn from the three Federal Constituencies: Ayedire/Iwo/Ola-Oluwa, Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo and Ayedaade/Isokan/Irewole.
“The cattle are expected to be reared to meet up with food production and 21st century Agribusiness production. We had trained them in the past in one of our cattle breeding training programmes.
“Today we give certificates and startup cash to beneficiaries of our cattle breeding training programmes. As well as farm estate pilot project.
“The impact is that we aspire to create a sustainable empowerment. We discovered that all along and at different levels it either they give out cash and other consumables that don’t last long but this is one of the initiatives that will challenge our youths to perform better.
“It’s one of the projects that will change our economy from consumption to production.
“It also has to do with security of the country. You know that the Open Grazing has caused a lot of problems of insecurity in the country. The method we are teaching farmers and the youths on free training programme.
So that they will not come out as you have heard that you can rear sixty (60) heads of cattle on a 12 by 25 plot of land. You need another 12 by 25 land to grow grass that will serve as their food.
“We have the Open Grazing which has caused a lot of issues now and widely controversial in the country. It is also obsolete in other countries of the world.
“Another one is ranching, it is visible and is semi-intensive rearing. You will observe that it is visible in Savanah regions, in the Northern part of the country, Kwara State upward.
“The third one which is what we are teaching them is free lawn whereby you cage them in about 5 meter square per cow. This one will give you a quick return on the investment. You will also make a big profit in a short period. I practice it on my farm too. I know within a 4-6 month you can make threefold of your investment,” he said.
He added that the beneficiaries have been divided into cooperative groups so as to foster the agribusiness.
“We want them to meet once or twice a month, regularly. We want them to start contributing. We encourage them to be more digital about this, they should look out for information whenever there is windows of opportunities.”
While responding, the beneficiaries appreciated Senator Oriolowo for sharing dividends of democracy among the entire youths in Osun West describing him as a good leader and politician who is always pursuing betterment of his people.
The beneficiaries who described the opportunity of the cow as a round peg in a round hole assured not to let the Senator down in all ramifications praying that God will continue to promote Senator Oriolowo above his contemporaries.
