Overview

Agriculture is the major occupation and source of income for a larger portion of the people of Oyo State engaging in over 70% of the state’s workforce. Oyo State has a population of 415,030 farm families (2007 Crop enumeration Exercise).

This is attributable to the fact that the state is endowed with varied but favorable climatic and ecological conditions, vast agricultural land mass estimated at about 28,000 sq km as well as soil structures that support the production of a range of fruits, vegetables, arable and tree crops.

The state has untapped and available arable land suitable for large-scale farming with a cultivable size of about 2,710,793 Ha.

Capacity

Over 3,070 registered farmers’ cooperative groups (as at 2007 enumeration exercise);
Several medium scale commercial farm across the State
Presence of several local and international manufacturers and distributors of agro-allied services/inputs
Oyo State is home to the leading agricultural input fabricators and agro-processors in the country.
Available supports from the FGN/ external: Accelerated agriculture development scheme (AADS), commercial agriculture credit scheme (CACS), Anchor borrowers’ program (ABP), Trust fund model scheme (TFMS), Rural access and agricultural marketing program (RAAMP), Rural finance institution building program (RUFIN), Established policy framework document, Oyo state roadmap for Agricultural development 2019-2023.
Other supports: bank of agriculture (BoA), Bank of industry (BoI), Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), (USAID), UKAID, UNICEF, Word food production (WFP), united nations development program (UNDP), International development Agencies (IDA), food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), International monetary fund (IMF), etc.

State Agro Resource Centres/Institutes:

The State also has numerous agricultural institutions and related agencies positioned to work with willing investors to address research, advisory services and manpower needs. Some of these institutions include:

Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development

Oyo State Agriculture Development Programe (OYSADEP)

International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN)

Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN)

Nigeria Institute for Horticulture Research and Training (NIHORT)

University of Ibadan Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine

Ladoke Akintola University of Technology

Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology

Raw Material Research and Development Council

National Stored Products Research Institute

State owned Agric Infrastructure

23 man-made lakes covering a total land size of 3,265.96 Ha for fisheries production
11 farm settlements on 103,163 Ha supporting 1,808 farmers
1,548 Ha of land spread across 5 Local Government Areas used as Pole Plantations
The State has 30 dams with 17 of these supporting 976,807 farmers farming on 14,000 Ha of land
10,000mt capacity silo in Monatan, Ibadan (Federal Govt. Owned), 10,000mt capacity silo at Aawe road, Oyo (under construction)
1,000mt capacity warehouses each at four different locations (Saki, Ayete, kisi, Iseyin) owned by the state and several corporate and individual owned across the state);
4 by 1,250mt capacity warehouse at Offa-meta, Oyo;
19 by 10mt capacity cribs across the farm settlements owned by the state;
Nine (9) owned and run farms settlements across the state (see annexure-II For the list and distribution);
115hectares state owned tree crops’ pilot plantations and nurseries across the state;
1,200HA. Agriculture farm complex at Fashola (suitable for dairy/ beef feedlot programme)

Natural endowments

Excellent agroecology, presumably one of the best in Nigeria
Climate- Wet season (April-October); Dry Season (November-March)

Mean annual rainfall (1,194 mm in the North and 1,264 mm in the South)

Temperature: Annual Mean Minimum (22.9^oC) Maximum (27^oC)

Annual Mean relative humidity: 60% (at 1500GMT), 79% (at 0900GMT)

Annual Mean Cloud Coverage: 7 OKTAS (i.e. heights of the sky covered in cloud)

9 Forest Zones (Ijaiye covering 2 ecological zones)
- 3 High Forests zones covering 22,992 Ha
- 7 Savannah Forest zones 314,568 Ha
5,382.285 hectares state owned forest reserves, fuel wood and pole plantations