Abia State government has expressed willingness to go into agreement with genuine investors to develop its farm settlements for the benefit of the host communities in the State.
The Commissioner for Agriculture Professor Monica Ironkwe stated this while receiving in her office, a delegation of the people of Ndioji Abam in Arochukwu LGA, whose community hosts Abia Rubber Estate.
She said the essence of yielding community lands to government was to create wealth, employment and affect people’s lives positively and regretted that various farmlands acquired by government have been taken over by private individuals.
She vowed that the State government would recover all its agricultural lands occupied by selfish investors in various farms and farm settlements in the State, whose occupation of the land is depriving the people their aim of donating their lands to government.
According to her, the government of Dr. Alex Otti is committed to lifting the people out of poverty through revamping of agricultural sector. She said the Governor would fix roads in and around the Abia Rubber Estate in Abam to provide easy transportation and access of markets for farmers and advised farmers to form cooperative societies to enable them access support from government.
Speaking also, some members of the host community, including Mr. Albert Okpi and Ijioma Kalu decried that the Rubber Estate established in 1963 has not been benefiting the people.
They said they came to interface with government to see how things could change for good saying that their roads are bad while millions of Naira are carted away from the community on daily basis by the current investors. They however expressed hope that Governor Alex Otti would arrest the ugly situation, having been assured by the government.
