Revealed: How Okey Ezeh will Revamp Agro-Production in Ngor Okpala ||| NEWS CORNER

By Mark Akums

Ngor Okpala is a potential food basket of Imo State, with large expanse of agricultural land stretching to its boundary with River State in Umuekwunne. The people are mainly farmers and have rich fertile land at the basin of the Otamiri River at Umuekwunne.

However, traditional agricultural practices subsist in the area. About 75% of the land area in the LGA is available for agriculture, yet the people produce mainly at subsistence level with very little for sale. The little surplus for sale cannot be evacuated for sale to other markets because of bad roads. Oftentimes most of their products go bad. Another factor contributing to low agricultural output is the land tenure system where the people have small family holding that does not support large scale commercial agriculture.

The major crops produced in the area are yam, cassava, coco yam, plantain etc. Oil palm and rubber also flourish in the area. Ngor Okpala has a large population of oil palm trees though of the Local variety. A few small holder oil palm plantations exist in the area. The once famous Emeabiam Rubber Estate leased to Ferdinand Enterprise is located in Ngor Okpala. Other tree crops include Oranges, Mangoes, Bread Fruits oil bean etc.

Although the potentials exist for large scale agricultural production, the council has done very little to support the farmers in the area. Household keep some livestock mainly for sale. These animals are free rangers, a few goats, hens and cocks. There are few poultry farmers whose livestock population range from 20 – 100 birds. These livestock farmers have the potential to increase their production but they receive no support from the council. Fertilizer and other agricultural inputs arrive very late. They are usually not supplied to them or they arrive long after the planting season is over. Again the farmers complain that the cost of inputs including the terms for borrowing is too high. The soil type is rich and suitable for agriculture but has been over cropped resulting in marginal productivity.

Agric products processing is done manually on a very small scale. Agro-processes in the LGA is not done on an integrated manner. The policy thrust of Okey Ezeh is therefore to increase agricultural production to ensure self-sufficiency and have some surplus for sale as a means to improve the economic status of the people of Ngor Okpala.

Vote Okey Ezeh for Imo State Governor to get all of these achieved. Vote SDP! Ngor Okpala shall be great!