At least 50 acres of palm trees and pineapples valued at N150 million were damaged by fire at Royal Farm in Akeredolu Village, Osu, Atakumosa West Local Government Area, Osun State.
Rufus Jegede, the farm’s founder, told a news conference held at the property yesterday that the incident happened on Friday.
Jegede said he launched the farm, which includes palm oil cultivation, livestock husbandry, and other arable farming, after retiring in 2015.
He stated that he had been providing his quota to ensure the country’s food security.
“We have created employment to no fewer than 40 workers, as we observed that the government alone could not do it, thereby reducing unemployment in the country.
“Before the farm got to this stage, we had been planting lots of things, taking them to the market with a view to reducing insufficiency in Nigeria,” he said.
Jegede said that before the incident, a minimum of 50 kegs of palm oil were being produced per week, while about 500 tons of pineapples were being harvested annually.
He said that he lost close to 4,000 palm trees and five acres of pineapple farm, as they were badly burnt, lamenting that, with the incident, there would be no harvest from the palm trees and pineapples this year.
He said that only his farm was destroyed by the fire, thus suspecting that some hoodlums, whom he described as ‘wicked individuals’ might have set the farm ablaze.
“This is the third time that the farm would be ravaged with fire since its establishment,” he said.
Jegede stated that a man, simply identified as Sunday, who, he said, used to disturb, steal, harvest their plantain and pineapple had been apprehended in connection with the fire.