
The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has suspended revenue collection on farm produce for the next six months.
His Special Adviser on Media, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
He said the move was made at a meeting with stakeholders in the agriculture sector, held at the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub, Oyo State, on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Makinde declared an immediate suspension of revenue collection on farm produce marketed within the state for the next six months, noting, however, that agricultural produce taken out of the borders of Oyo State would attract necessary revenues.
He said, “I have noted some few things from the points you all raised and there are few decisions we are going to take. The first one is the issue of revenue because those in charge are compounding the problem of increment in prices of foodstuff. For the next six months, nobody should collect any revenue and all the people involved should know that this takes effect immediately.”
The governor, who said the state had disbursed N1bn to smallholder farmers through the Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery, also declared that the Agriculture Credit Corporation of Oyo State loan support to farmers would no longer require a civil servant as guarantor, stating that farm associations would now guarantee their members to have access to the loan.