The lawmaker representing Idanre Constituency in Ondo State House of Assembly, Festus Akingbaso, yesterday joined farmers in Idanre to protest acquisition of their farmland by the Ondo State Government.
It was gathered that the state government had keyed into the Central Bank of Nigeria agricultural revolution in cashew and oil palm cultivation by ceding thousands of hectares of farmlands, including Idanre forest reserve, to private firms.
Akingbaso said he joined the protest because 50,000 hectares in Idanre had been ceded to private companies for the next 99 years.
Akingbaso, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Idanre/Ifedore federal constituency, said the area known as Idanre Forest Reserve (A05) was submitted to the colonial power under the British indirect rule by an agreement dated September 22, 1918 between Idanre community and the colonial power represented by the Governor-General.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Agric and AgriBusiness, Pastor Akin Olotu, said the farmers would not be displaced but integrated for better yields and improved income.
He said the government had designed a programme to bring farmers of same produce together as a cluster in line to how it was being practised in developed countries.