Stakeholders in the agriculture sector have called on both the federal and state governments to ensure that the 2024 budget and subsequent budgets are gender sensitive.
The stakeholders made the call in a communique issued at the end of the National Stakeholders Consultative meeting on the 2025 budget in Lagos.
The stakeholders are Federal and State Ministries of Agriculture and Food Security, Federal and State Ministries of Budget and Economic Planning, Oxfam, ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), Community of Agriculture Non-State Actors and ECOWAS Commission.
The Country Director, AAN, Mr Andrew Mamedu, said such budgets should provide line items for the implementation of the National Gender Policy in agriculture that addressed specific challenges affecting women farmers.
Mamedu urged governments to avoid lumping up budgets for women farmers and other groups like youths.
He said that a recent survey conducted by AAN on the capacity of smallholder women farmers to contribute effectively to agricultural development revealed that they were challenged with poor access to credit and inputs.
The country director listed other challenges as post-harvest losses, reduction support, insecurity, lack of access to irrigation support, training, and market access, among others.
Mamedu said that the challenges contributed to the current high cost of food in the country.
According to Mamedu, smallholder farmers contribute 70 to 80 per cent of agricultural production in the country.
He regretted that challenges confronting smallholder farmers were not prioritised despite their huge contribution to national food security.
“The Federal and State Ministries of Agriculture should scale up yearly budget lines for support to smallholder women and youth farmers; reflecting on what should be prioritised especially in 2025 budget based on realities on ground.
“National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGSAP) should be well funded and executed to address the inputs gaps experienced by smallholder farmers, especially women and youth.”
Memedu tasked federal and state governments with more investment in agriculture to address the strategic areas of investment that would increase agriculture’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to at least six per cent.
He listed the strategic areas as extension services, access to credit by women and youth in agriculture and appropriate labour-saving technologies inputs.
Memedu said post-harvest loss reduction support such as processing and storage facilities, training and market access, Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA), agroecology, research and development, monitoring and evaluation also needed attention.
NAN
