Oswald Agwu
The Ebonyi State Government has been urged to promote the enrollment of smallholder farmers, especially women, into agricultural insurance policies.
This is to mitigate the negative effect of farm and produce losses as a result of widespread insecurities nationwide.
The admonition was part of recommendations at a one-day stakeholders consultative meeting on 2024 Agricultural Budget held in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
The event was organised by Nongovernmental Organisations: Participatory Development Alternatives and ActionAid Nigeria, in collaboration with the State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Participants at the meeting were drawn from over 20 Civil Society Organisations, Smallholder Women Farmers Organization of Nigeria, Permanent Secretaries, key staff of the Ministries of Agriculture, Finance and Budget and the media among others.
Presenting the communique at the end of the meeting, Nnenna Nkama, on behalf of the Budget Committee Group, a government/CSOs joint initiative powered by PDA, called for an increase in the State’s budgetary allocation to Agriculture.
Nkama stressed that the State Government should commit at least 10 percent of its annual budget to the agriculture sector as approved by the 45th National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development.
She stated that such a development was necessary for the State to meet the Maputo/Malabo Declaration, a commitment required to support at least 6 percent growth rate for the sector as postulated in the CAADP framework.
Nkama emphasised the need for the State Government to develop an Agricultural Investment Plan involving public and private partnership to nurture some critical agricultural sub-sectors.
The communique decried the high level of insecurity across the country and its effect on farming activities and called on the State Government to formulate a remedial policy.
Part of the communique reads: “Considering the agricultural risk; rising insecurity in farms; farm raiding, cattle destructions, kidnapping of farmers, climate changes and other natural disasters, farmers are not encouraged to continue farm practices without risk covers.
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“The State government is encouraged to promote the enrolment of smallholder farmers into agricultural insurance policies, while confronting the poor security issues that threatens the farms and farmers.
“There is the need to strengthen the monitoring of implementation of Agricultural projects in the budget by all relevant stakeholders such as the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, State Ministry of Agriculture and Agriculture Committees in the State Assembly as well as Farmers and CSOs using an adapted CAADP Results measurement framework.
“The documented reports should be shared, and reviewed to enhance lessons learning and improvement in budget implementation.
“The State Ministry of Agriculture should create a yearly budget line to Support smallholder women farmers, reflecting on what should be prioritized especially in the 2024 budget based on realities on ground.”
The communique further urged the State Ministry of Agriculture, other Ministries Departments and Agencies to consistently ensure wider stakeholders consultation in budget formulation, provide continued coordination and integration of outcomes in the annual Agriculture Budget.
Speaking to journalists, the PDA’s Programme Officer in charge of Scaling Up Public Investment in Agriculture, an Actionaid supported project, Ugochi Joseph, said the meeting was aimed at facilitating conversations among key stakeholders and strengthening citizens participation towards making 2024 Agriculture Budget responsive for food security and wealth creation in line with the CAADP framework and the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy in Nigeria.
Joseph, who regretted that 81 percent of smallholder women farmers do not have access to agricultural inputs in the State, called on the Government to pursue deliberate policies that would enhance their access to grants, credit, inputs and other agricultural incentives.
She explained: “When we had an assessment in the 13 local government areas of the state, when we called representatives of the smallholder farmers from the local governments areas, to know if they are able to access farm inputs and credit facilities, we discovered that almost 81 percent of them don’t even have access to farm inputs.
“They don’t have access to credit facilities and they have no access to information.
“So, we need the government to pay more attention to women farmers because close to 95 percent of them are into agriculture.
“We need to pay more attention to these women farmers to enhance food productivity in the state.”
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