Towards ensuring food security and a persistent farming system among households, the Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, has given out home garden seeds to selected Civil Servants from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.  

Commissioner in the ministry, Hon. Bolu Owotomo, while speaking during a capacity building on home gardening and seeds distribution to the Civil Servants, at Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme (OGADEP) Training Hall, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, said it was essential to involve every household in home gardening, in order to achieve increased cultivation of supplementary source of food and earn some income.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs. Kehinde Jokotoye, Owotomo applauded the state Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun for his visionary efforts at increasing food production in the state, urging individuals to support the present administration's vision in advancing  its agricultural policies for the wellbeing of the people.

The Commissioner described home gardening as a cropping system that encompasses vegetables, fruits, spices and medicinal plants, as well as livestock within a living environment for improved family nutrition and food sufficiency.

‘’This exercise is an avenue to support agricultural development efforts of the state government, serving as another dimension to build capacity of Civil Servants, in attaining food sufficiency and boost food production at the household level’’, he said.

Earlier, the Acting Programme Manager, OGADEP, Mrs. Victoria Shobande enjoined all participants to contribute their quota to food security agenda of the state government, by putting into practice what they had learnt during the technical session, that include, training on vegetables production, backyard livestock production, backyard fisheries production and orange fleshed sweet potato cultivation.

In their responses, two of the participants from the Ministries of Information and Strategy, as well as Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Gafar Alabi and Mrs. Mojisola Jagun respectively, appreciated the state government for the training, promising to maximally utilise the okra, tomatoes, pepper and celosia seeds that were given to them.