Over 100 farmers in Ondo State’s Oluwa Forest Reserve, Odigbo Council Area, who were recently evicted from their fields by a private enterprise, have accused the state government of manipulating their situation.
The farmers accuse the state government of transferring their farmlands to the corporation without compensating them.
Farmers in over seven separate settlements, with 45 camps, have been displaced by the state government’s move, despite paying a N5 million annual charge to the government on the land.
Their spokesperson, Mr Adetoro Opeyemi, told newsmen, that the company which bought their farmland, had stormed their farms with earthmoving equipment and uprooted their cocoa trees most of which were filled with seedlings.
He said: “In my camp, we have paid annual dues of N5 million to the government.We are surprised that our farmlands of over 20 years could be sold to an investor to plant what we already have in the farm.“““So, we are begging the government to consider our plight and look for somewhere else for the private investors to plant their palm trees.“It will surprise you to know that two farmers died recently out of frustration, after their cocoa plantations were destroyed,”
But the state government, in response, described the farmers in the forest reserves as illegal occupants.
The commissioner for information and orientation, Mrs. Bamidele Ademola- Olateju, insisted that government will not allow farming and hunting in its forest reserves any longer.