EMULATE KEBBI’S 10% BUDGETS TO AGRICULTURE, STAKEHOLDERS TELL OTHER STATES
Professionals and stakeholders in the agricultural sector have called on other states in the country to emulate the Kebbi State government, which has been working the talking by consistently allocating over 10 per cent of the state budget to the sector since 2015.
The Coordinator of Oxfam International (an international confederation of 20 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working with partners in over 90 countries to end the injustices that cause poverty) in the state, Olumide Ojo, during activities commemorating the 2018 World Food Day recently, commended the state government for bringing one of the elements of the Maputo and Malabo declarations into reality, breaking the jinx of grossly inadequate resource mobilisation to food production by committing the budget to the sector.
The Federal Government, being a signatory to the declarations, allocates 3.2% of the total 2018 national budget to the agricultural sector despites its claim of making efforts to diversify the economy through the agro-allied resources.
This has attracted criticism to the government, casting a shadow of doubt on its sincerity and political will about investments in the sector.
Oxfam had noted that the “Kebbi government has been consistently committing over 10 per cent of its annual budget to the agriculture sector, from 2016 to 2018.
The state government voted N12.5 billion out of a budget of N109.7 billion to agriculture in 2018.
“In 2017, it voted over N14 billion out of the budget of N139.3 billion to the same sector. Budgetary allocation to the agriculture and rural development sector for 2015 represents 11.4 per cent while that of 2016 represents 10.1 per cent,’’ he said.
The Oxfam coordinator said agricultural investment in the state had also recorded achievements, adding that the state was also noted for increased yearly agricultural production, especially in rice, wheat, sorghum and maize.
“To achieve zero hunger, the stakeholders must work together to raise the level of awareness about hunger, starvation and malnutrition, especially as it affects the rural population in Africa.”
Agric investment declarations
In Mozambique in July 2003, African Heads of State and Government endorsed the ‘Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa.’
The declaration contained several important decisions regarding agriculture, among which was the commitment to the allocation of at least 10 per cent of national budgetary resources to agriculture and rural development within five years.
The AU Heads of State and Government also adopted the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agriculture Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in 2014.
The goals to be achieved are recommitment to enhance investment finance in agriculture; a commitment to end hunger by 2025 including; at least a doubling of productivity (inputs, irrigation, and mechanisation) and commitment to halve poverty by 2025 through inclusive agricultural growth and transformation, among others.
