Abuja – Actionaid an NGO, has urged the National Assembly to increase allocation to the agricultural sector to support youths and women in its review of the 2016 budget.
Mrs Ifeoma Charles-Monwuba, Deputy Country Director of the organisation, made the appeal on Thursday in Abuja.at the `Citizens Dialogue on the proposed 2016 Agriculture Budget.’
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the dialogue was organised in collaboration with Voices for Food Security (VFS), National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), ONE and Oxfam.
Charles-Monwuba said that the budget was critical to the realisation of nation’s aspirations and the achievement of the government’s electoral promises.
She said that Nigeria had consistently failed to meet the 2003 Maputo Declaration which states that 10 per cent of the total budget at all levels of government be allocated to agriculture.
She said that with the dwindling price of crude oil, government at all levels should prioritise agriculture.
She said that the N77 billion, which is 1.26 per cent of the total budget allocated to agriculture was `grossly inadequate.’
The deputy country director said that there were vital areas in the agric sector that needed funding to improve agricultural productivity and enhance pro-poor growth.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
She listed the areas to include access to affordable finance, farm inputs, extension services, research and development.
She said that the meager allocation to these areas in the budget was as a source of concern to stakeholders.
Charles-Monwuba noted that though women constituted 60 to 80 per cent of the labour force in the agric sector, their access to services like credit, inputs, training and crop insurance was much lower than men.
She said over 55 per cent of female-headed household in the country do not have access to land.
She said that about 29 per cent of women own less than one hectare of land and urged the national assembly to address the challenges through the budget.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
In his remarks, the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture, Rep. Muhtari Muhammad commended the organisers of the dialogue.
He said that agriculture was on the concurrent list and expressed hope that other tiers of government would make known their financial commitment to the sector.
He said that other provisions in the budget which agriculture would benefit from included construction of rural roads which would be captured in the allocation to the Federal Ministry of Works.
The lawmaker promised that all the grey areas and shortcomings identified in the budget by civil society would be taken into consideration during deliberation. (NAN)
