Farmers Seek Ogun Govt’s Intervention On Repair Of Bad Road
•Say state of road hindering supply of farm produce to city centre
FARMERS in Ogun State, have appealed to the state government to as a matter of urgency act on the repair of Ijebu-Igbo/Dagbolu/Akanran road, which they said has been in a terrible condition for quite a while.
The Ijebu-Igbo/Dagbolu/Akanran road is the linkage road bewtween Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State and Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State. The deplorable condition of some section of the road according to farmers is affecting smooth transporation of farm produce to and from both states.
The farmers who spoke in separate interviews with the Nigerian Tribune, noted that the bad condition of the road has remained an hinderance to free flow of traffic which makes it extremely difficult to move farm produce from the farms to the city centre as commercial vehicles which they solely rely on are charging excessively.
One them, Mr Semiu Falodun, said:”We are facing a lot of hardship as a result of this bad road. To move our harvested farm produce from the farms has been a major problem for quite sometime now and it is really affecting us as those commercial vehicles owners are not always willing to transport our goods and those who are ready to do the job do charge exorbitant amount and this usually affect the price at which farm produce are being sold at the market.
“Because the road falls within the state’s boundary, we are appealing to the Ogun State government to please as a matter of urgency do something about the reapir of the road so that farmers can have easy access to supply their goods to the city centre.”
A woman farmer, Mrs Iyabode Adenuga, stated that if the government is serious about ensuring food security, good access road from farms to the city centre should be on its priority list.
“The campaign about food security is not complete if farmers do not have easy access to their farms as a result of bad roads. So, I want to urge the authority concern to act accordingly on the state of the road we are talking about so that food security can be fully achieved.”
Another farmer, Mr Christopher Ibe, while narrating his ordeal on the road said:”There was a day the vehicle transporting by harvested farm produce to the city broke down as a result of the terrible condition of the road, we could not get help on time as the mechanic contacted to help fix it failed to show up on time. We were robbed by some armed robbers who took away our valuables. I think something urgent must be done concerning the road.”
