THE Environmental and Rural Mediation Centre, ENVIRUMEDIC, a nongovernmental organization, has called for increased funding of agriculture in the 2024 budget of Delta State to boost food production and promote food security in the State.
Executive Director of ENVIRUMEDIC, Chief Monday Itoghor stated in Asaba this during a One-Day Stakeholders Consultative Meeting organized by the NGO in collaboration with Delta State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Delta State Ministry of Economic Planning and support from ActionAid Nigeria, on the Delta State Agriculture Budget for 2024
Itoghor commended the Delta State Ministries of Agriculture, Economic Planning, and other stakeholders for partnering with ENVIRUMEDIC in its sustained advocacy for an increase in public funding of agriculture.
He expressed hope for improved funding of agriculture, saying, “We look forward to seeing 2024 become a remarkable year in the growth and development of agriculture in Delta State.”
Speaking, the Senior Programme Officer at ENVIRUMEDIC, Mr. Lucky Enegide said that discussions at the meeting would centre on the 2024 agriculture budget and proffering measures to improve public funding of the sector, noting that the importance of sufficient, affordable and nutritious food in the wellbeing of the people cannot be overemphasized.
In his presentation, entitled, “2023 Analyzed Budget,” SUPIA Program Officer, Mr. Alex Okekporo noted that food security is vital for national security, human development and economic, adding that public sector investment in agriculture plays a critical role in achieving food security.
In his presentation, entitled, “2023 Analysed Budget,” SUPIA Program Officer, Mr. Alex Okekporo noted that food security is vital for national security, human development and economic, adding that public sector investment in agriculture plays a critical role in achieving food security.
He said, “The analysis seeks to examine the following: The extent to which Delta State is investing available resources to improve agricultural production in compliance with Malabo declaration and SDGs 1, 2 and 3 targeted at no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing for all by 2030; to establish how the Delta State budget addresses the issues plaguing smallholder farmers, women and youths; and allocations for climate resilience and sustainable agriculture, access to credit, extension services, mechanization, and reduction in post harvest loss.
In the course of the presentation, Mr. Okekporo established that the budgetary allocations to agriculture in Delta State from 2020-2023 were less than 1% of the total annual budgets of the state, and falls short of the 10% Malabo declaration benchmark.
He further noted that the current rate of inflation has further reduced the real value of the budget thereby reducing the capacity of the capital budget to facilitate greater sector development.
Speaking on the way forward to upscaling production in the agriculture sector, the State Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. John Onovroke expressed the need for a collective effort to give the agriculture sector a boost, even as he called on the government to give the agriculture sector a priority attention.
He said, “I call on the government to take a critical look at the opportunities in the agriculture sector and leverage it to better the lots of the people.
He charged the stakeholders at the meeting including the Small-scale Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON), and the Mobilization of Rural Women for Sustainable Agriculture (MORWSA) to build a strong voice to be able to engage with their representatives at different levels of government and inspire them to prioritize investment in the agriculture sector.
Mr. Onovroke added that crops such as onions, cowpeas, tomatoes, cucumber and carrot could be grown in Delta state.
Continuing, he advised members of SWOFON to be abreast of the activities of the Ministry of Agriculture in order to key into its programmes.
Also speaking, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Delta State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Mrs. Isioma Aniye commended ENVIRUMEDIC for organizing the meeting, assuring the Ministry’s continuing collaboration to foster growth in the agriculture sector and promote food security.
She advised the members of SWOFON and other stakeholders to always seek and track current information about government’s agricultural policies and programmes and ensure they follow through and benefit from agriculture schemes being sponsored by the government.
Speaking, the Director of Planning (Environmental Sector), Ministry of Economic Planning Mrs. Fidelia Atogun, representing the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, expressed the compelling need for non state actors to complement the government’s effort towards improving growth in agriculture.
She said; “The government needs support of private institutions and other stakeholders to holistically achieve desired growth in agriculture sector.”
Speaking on behalf of the women farmers, Menewe Edukugho of MORWSA, identified numerous challenges confronting women farmers in Delta State.
She stated that several efforts made by the women farmers to follow through government’s programmes had been futile due to bureaucratic bottlenecks. She further stated that various credit schemes initiated by the federal, and Delta state governments to boost production in agriculture at different times of the years were rarely accessed by women farmers.
Continuing, she expressed dissatisfaction at the way and manner the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the the federal government was run, stating that efforts made by women farmers to benefit from the scheme were stalled by procedural delays.
She also lamented the shortcomings in the agriculture insurance scheme, stating that not much information about the scheme could be accessed by women farmers, adding that impact of post-harvest losses on women farmers had been very huge over the years.
Edukugho noted that the operations of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) had not been favourable to women farmers, noting that severally, cohorts of women farmers had applied for credits but none was successful.
She called on the government of Delta State and the financial institutions to be up and doing both in timely release of funds for agricultural activities and approval of credits to women farmers, stating that agricultural activities are time-bound.
Speaking, Mrs. Georgina Umeh, Manager, BoA, Asaba, and Mr. Godwin Iheakonye, Loan Officer, BoA, Asaba, elaborately explained how credit schemes under BoA are run. They noted that lack of genuine information was responsible for the inability of the Delta State based farmers to benefit from the Anchor Borrowers Programme, adding that the state government’s role was critical in facilitating farmers chances of benefitting from the loan scheme.
Continuing, they enlightened the public on the procedures for applying for credits with assurance of getting positive results. They further advised the female farmers to form clusters and cooperatives among their members, stating that through such platforms they could apply for credits and benefit from loan schemes.
The highpoint of the meeting was presentation of a communique to the press whose contents include a commendation to the MDAs for their support and collaboration with non-state actors in advancing growth of the agriculture sector.
The communique noted that the “Budgetary allocation to agriculture from 2020-2023 has been below 1% of the total annual budget and never met the Malabo declaration benchmark of 10% of total annual budgetary allocations.
“Progress in the agriculture sector has been slow as a result of the impart of climate change, insecurity and ongoing Russia/Ukraine war, and Isreal/Hamas war.
“The decline in the progress of agriculture sector is evident as the sector’s contribution to GDP in Q1 of 2023 is less as against its contribution in 2022.”
The communique recommended that “The Delta State Governor, and the State House of Assembly should Scale Up Public Investment in Agriculture, ensure timely consideration, passage, and total budget releases to increase food production, reduce hunger and poverty and achieve the Maputo/Malabo Commitments.
“In compliance with the 44th National Council on Agriculture and Rural Development (NCARD); the three tiers of government should commit 10% of their annual budget to the agriculture sector to meet the 10% Maputo/Malabo Declaration benchmark to support at least 6% growth rate for the sector as postulated in the CAADP framework.
“The Delta State Ministry of Agriculture and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should consistently create budget lines to ensure wider stakeholder consultation in the budget formulation and provide continued coordination.
“The 2024 budget and subsequent years budgetary allocations to agriculture should be gender sensitive and responsive by providing line items for the implementation of the National Gender Policy in Agriculture which addresses specific challenges that affect women farmers, as well as avoid lumping up budget for women farmers and other groups such as youths.
“The State governments should increase public investments to the agriculture sector to fund the strategic areas of investments that would increase the agricultural GDP to at least 6%. These include: Extension Services, Access to Credit, Women in Agriculture, Youth in Agriculture, Appropriate Labour-Saving Technologies, Inputs, Post-Harvest Losses Reduction Supports (processing facilities, storage facilities, trainings, market access, etc.), Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA)/Agroecology, Research and Development, Monitoring and Evaluation, as well as Coordination.
“Considering the fact that agricultural budgets are time-bound, agricultural budgets should be released on time and in full, to enable farmers plant their crops in due season.
“Delta State Ministry of Agriculture should create a yearly Strengthening Access to Credit budget line: This funding should focus on getting consultants or consultancy firms to support women, youths and farmers living with disability, and cooperatives to be able to navigate the cumbersome access to credit in Nigeria.
“The Delta State Ministry of Agriculture should create a yearly budget line of support for smallholder women farmers. And establish small modular processing and storage facilities in communities for different commodities to drastically reduce post-harvest losses.
“Considering the rising insecurity faced by farmers, and other crimes such as kidnapping, including climate change and other natural disasters, the state government should promote agricultural insurance policies for smallholder farmers, while tackling issues of insecurity that threatens our farms.
“Delta State government should develop an Agricultural Investment Plan. This will enable the efforts at the states and local governments authority to be recognized in the overall determination of the country’s commitment to the CAADP and enable accurate data for the Biennial Review (BR) Reporting.
“The Delta State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources should start the development of pesticide policies and the legislation to ensure that the most toxic pesticides are prohibited and phased out in Nigeria, while a significant shift should be made towards sustainable farm systems like agroecology. This can be achieved when the government develops a safe sustainable food strategy that reduces the use of highly toxic synthetic chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030; 25% by 2040, a maximum of 5% by 2050, with strong support given to farmers in their transition towards agroecology;
“There is need for relevant stakeholders to strengthen the monitoring of implementation of Agricultural projects in the budget using an adapted CAADP Results measurement framework and documentation of the results, with a review to enhance lessons learn and improvement in budget implementation.”
