Kwara State governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, has advocated for a common agricultural policy for the states of the north, saying such a policy will drive the economy of the region and pave way for a rapid development of the region. Governor Ahmed said this in Ilorin, the state capital, when the Kogi State deputy governor, Mr. Yomi Awoniyi, paid him a courtesy call at the Government House in Ilorin.

Ahmed said governments in the northern region needed to evolve new agricultural policies and financing, that would not only serve the people of the region better but also, the entire country.

The governor told the visiting deputy governor that the Kwara State five-year agricultural master-plan which he said addresses youth unemployment, wealth creation and commercial farming premised on shared prosperity.

He said Kwara State would showcase this policy at the next meeting of the Northern States Governors' Forum (NSGF).

The state agricultural master-plan, the governor added was put together by Cornell University, New York, the Kwara State University and the University of Ilorin and was packaged to transform the state into the agricultural hub of the country.

He said the state government has a dream of creating an enabling environment to attract resources for the development of agriculture to tackle hindrances that poor funding could cause agricultural developments.

The Governor told the Kogi deputy governor that the Shonga Commercial Farms project has emerged as a workable model that could be replicated in all the sixteen local government councils of the state adding: "We have enumerated farmers in the state, compartmentalised them into cooperative groups based on crops, locations and farm sizes as part of the driving agricultural practice in the state."

In his remarks, Awoniyi canvassed for an alliance with the Kwara State Government for the creation of agricultural revolution in Kogi state in particular and Nigeria in general.

The Deputy Governor said agriculture was crucial to the development of Nigeria calling for the huge potentials of the country in the sector to be properly tapped.

He commended the Kwara State government initiative for the transformation of agricultural practice in the country which he said could be of advantage to Kogi State Agricultural policy