The Community of Agrifood Systems Non-State Actors (COANSA) has urged all tiers of government to increase public investment in agriculture, improve budget implementation and strengthen accountability.
COANSA made the call on Monday in Abuja at a news conference to mark the 2026 World Food Day, themed “Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow”.
The African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Kampala Declaration, covering 2026 to 2035, aims to accelerate sustainable food production, promote agro-industrialisation and trade, and strengthen food and nutrition security.
Dr Nkiruka Okonkwo, Co-Founder and Financial Director of COANSA, said agricultural capital budget implementation remained low between 2023 and 2025, with most states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) spending less than half of their approved capital allocations.
She said COANSA’s analysis showed that 22 states spent less than 50 per cent of their agricultural capital allocations in 2023, 18 states in 2024 and 15 states in 2025.
Okonkwo said poor budget implementation persisted even as agricultural capital budget allocations increased between 2023 and 2026.
She said improved public investment and effective budget implementation could help federal and state governments increase internally generated revenue by between 6.22 per cent and 618 per cent and create more than 3.5 million direct jobs.
She warned that poor budget implementation could prevent the country from realising these potential benefits in 2026.
“The call to ‘Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow’ demands a shift from business as usual towards strategic investments that close longstanding gaps in agricultural financing, infrastructure, technology adoption and sector governance,” she said.
Okonkwo said public investment should boost food production and ensure that safe, diverse and nutritious food was available, accessible and affordable.
She said COANSA’s priorities aligned with the six strategic areas of the Kampala Declaration.
The organisation urged governments to establish a credible financing plan to meet the declaration’s target of allocating at least 10 per cent of public expenditure to agrifood systems.
It said compliance should be measured by the amount of funding released and spent effectively, rather than by approved budget allocations alone.
COANSA also called for annual public reports detailing agricultural budget allocations, actual expenditure, outputs and outcomes.
It urged governments to domesticate the Kampala Declaration and implement Nigeria’s Agrifood System Strategy and Action Plan with clear targets and timelines.
The organisation further called for the appointment of Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) focal points in every state and the FCT, alongside annual consultations with the CAADP Non-State Actors Group.
Speaking on the World Food Day theme, Okonkwo said innovation was essential to sustainable food production and improved nutrition but required public investment, infrastructure, appropriate technologies, effective extension services and inclusive policies.
She identified agroecological practices, agricultural research, irrigation development, labour-saving technologies, digital agricultural services and post-harvest loss reduction as measures that could improve food production, productivity and market access.
Okonkwo said expanding these interventions required sustained financing, stronger institutions and fully funded policies that addressed the needs of farmers and other actors across the agrifood value chain.
She called for increased investment in smallholder farmers, women, young people and persons with disabilities to improve their access to productive resources, finance, markets, knowledge and technology.
She also urged governments to improve rural infrastructure, integrate climate action and Nigeria’s third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) targets into agrifood systems, and incorporate the Federal Government’s Nutrition 774 Initiative into the implementation of the Kampala Declaration.
“The future we seek cannot be achieved through promises alone. It requires bold investments, innovative solutions, inclusive partnerships and sustained political will. If Nigeria is to nourish tomorrow, we must act decisively today,” she said.
COANSA is a coalition of 31 organisations working in agrifood systems.
