*******Hunger Crisis: ENVIRUMEDIC, BCG AND SWOFON advocates urgent attention on the agric sector.
*****2025 appropriation: Agriculture Stakeholders seeks more funding for agriculture
******ENVIRUMEDIC, SWOFON AND BCG strengthen collaboration to boost food security
The agriculture sector is undoubtedly the biggest sector in the country and in line with the current food crisis in the state and country, there is even more urgent need to focus on the sector to ensure food security and national security.
Environmental and Rural Mediation Centre (ENVIRUMEDIC) and ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) are non-governmental organizations working on rights to food and agriculture. The organizations work on the Scaling up Public Investment in Agriculture (SUPIA) project.
The project seeks to catalyze increased quantity and improved quality of public investment in agriculture through enhanced citizen participation in evidence-based policy making to increase the productivity and well-being of smallholder farmers.
The one-day stakeholders consultative meeting held on 24th September 2024 at Orchid Hotel, Asaba was organized by ENVIRUMEDIC in collaboration with the Delta State Budget Committee Group (BGC), Small-Scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Asaba with support from AAN.
The Project Officer, Mr. Alex Okekporo, representing ENVIRUMEDIC, highlighted that the objectives of the meeting which are among others, to facilitate conversations amongst key stakeholders to make input into the 2025 agriculture budget; strengthen citizens’ participation towards making 2025 agriculture budget responsive for food security and wealth creation; provide stakeholders with the opportunity especially smallholder women farmers to participate in agriculture policy and budget making processes and to present 2024 agriculture budget analysis to stakeholders and generate key budget line items that support smallholder women farmers.
Alex Okekporo presented the findings including the observations and recommendations of the 2024 Delta State analyzed Agriculture sector budget. He said that it is commendable to note that there was drastic increase in the allocation to the Ministry of Agriculture in 2024 representing ₦9.2 billion which is way higher than previous years.
Also, that (Mobilization of Rural Women for Sustainable Agriculture (MORWSA), a unit in the Ministry saddled with the responsibility of empowering women farmers has a budget of 100 million, which the highest from previous allocations.
He continued, that the 2024 budgetary allocation to Agriculture in terms of percentage is 1.26% which represent an increase compared to previous years and the highest the ministry has gotten ever. This is highly commendable; however, it is a far cry from the 10% Malabo declaration.
He concluded by saying that the current rate of inflation has further reduced the real value of the budget thereby reducing the capability of the capital budget to facilitate greater sector development.
Alex Okekporo continued his presentation and admonished the government to increase the allocation to the agriculture sector in a bid to comply with the Malabo Declaration of 10% total budgetary allocation to agriculture annually and to ensure food security and grow the state’s GDP.
Government should ensure the release of approved funds to the MANR. This is because over the years, budget performance has been extremely poor in terms of capital allocations.
Government should ensure timely and total releases of approved funds to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources as Agricultural activities are time bound.
Public investment in agriculture should be scaled up in the area of Extension Services provision considering the number of farmers in the state and the importance of agricultural information to enhance agricultural production.
Increase capital budget to accommodate inflation effects. The gap between the real and nominal value of the budget must be filled consciously with special consideration to the effect of inflation on the budget cost.
Responding to the presentation, Mrs. Atogun Fidelia, Ministry of Economic Planning; Mrs. Ogboru Mamode, Director of Extension Services, Delta State Agriculture and Rural Development Authority; Aniye Patience Isioma, Director, Planning, Research & Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture & Natural Resources; Mr. Adeleke Babalola of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, Mrs. Olomukoro Areh Ajiri, Delta State Agricultural Procurement Agency (DAPA), and Bibo Eniyekpemi, Afritropic Farming and Agro Services, expressed the need for better collaboration between the agriculture stakeholders and the government of Delta State to boost productivity in the agriculture sector and promote food security.