Osun Lawmaker, Tunde Olatunji, gives 20,000 seedlings

A member of the Osun State House of Assembly, Mr. Babatunde Olatunji, has distributed 20,000 free hybrid cocoa seedlings to farmers in Ife-North State Constituency.

Olatunji, the chief whip, made the distribution at Ipetumodu Town Hall, Ipetumodu, the headquarters of Ife North Local Government.

The programme was tagged: “Ife-North Cocoa Revolution”.

Olatunji said cocoa had been the major source of income for people of Ife-North for decades, adding that distribution would help in reviving cocoa plantation in the area.

He noted that the 20,000 cocoa hybrid seedlings he distributed cost about N4million and his focus in the next four years was to inject 100,000 cocoa trees to the existing ones in replacing the old ones.

Olatunji said: “In Ife-North, we have competitive and comparative advantage in agriculture. Specifically, cocoa has been the major income earner for us and as a fact, 80 to 90 per cent homes in Ife-North were built with cocoa proceeds.”