The Director-General of the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA), Dr. Debo Akande, says the state government has intensified efforts to reduce post-harvest losses and strengthen the agricultural value chain.
Akande stated this in an interview with journalists on Friday in Ibadan, noting that post-harvest losses—estimated at about 40 per cent in Nigeria—remain a major challenge to food security and farmers’ incomes.
He identified factors responsible for the losses to include poor rural infrastructure, long distances to markets, and inadequate storage systems.
“Lack of rural infrastructure, especially roads, is one of the major causes of post-harvest losses. Farmers are unable to move perishable goods immediately, and even non-perishables are often stored in unsafe conditions,” he said.
Akande explained that the state government has commenced the construction of 1,200 kilometres of feeder roads to open up remote communities and improve farm-to-market movement. He said the road projects form part of a strategic plan to unlock agrarian communities and link them to processing centres and industrial hubs.
According to him, the initiative complements the construction of major inter-community roads already embarked upon by the administration to support agribusiness investments. Some of the key routes include roads linking Fashola, Shaki, and Oyo, designed to connect farmers to industrial clusters.
The OYSADA boss said the state is also establishing aggregation centres within communities to enable farmers store produce temporarily and reduce spoilage. He added that Oyo has adopted a demand-driven approach to agriculture, attracting at least 16 medium-scale processing factories between 2019 and 2025 to serve as primary markets for farmers.
“These centres and factories have become major off-takers. One factory alone has over 3,000 cassava farmers supplying raw materials. For perishables like tomatoes, pepper, and banana, processors now operate closer to production communities,” he said.
Akande further disclosed that the government has established agribusiness transformation centres and industrial hubs to promote processing and export-oriented value addition. Eight processing factories are currently operating within the Fashola Agribusiness Hub, with more facilities being developed for livestock, cassava, and produce processing.
He said the state is complementing infrastructure development with capacity building for farmers on post-harvest handling, storage, and quality control. Akande also noted that the government has prioritized gender inclusion by setting a minimum 30 per cent quota for women beneficiaries across all agricultural interventions.
“Out of the 16 new processing factories, five are owned by women. At the Fashola hub alone, two factories and one cashew farm are operated by women,” he said.
Akande added that the state is implementing targeted women-focused initiatives, including the Women in Agricultural Technical Education and Agribusiness (WATEA) programme supported by the French Government and implemented at LAUTECH and the Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology (OYSCATECH).
“We are not only involving women at the farm level but also in industrial participation. This is deliberate because the economic empowerment of women has a direct impact on rural development,” he said.
Akande reiterated that Oyo State would continue to strengthen agribusiness systems, attract investments, and reduce post-harvest losses as part of efforts to ensure food security and boost rural incomes.
