The Senior Agricultural Advisor to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Prof. Abba Gambo, has expressed concern over the inadequate budget allocation for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
As contained in the 2024 budget appropriation bill, N110.25bn was earmarked for the ministry.
When converted, this is less than one per cent (0.392857143 per cent) of the over N28tn 2024 appropriation bill approved by the National Assembly.
This is contrary to the 2003 Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security, where African countries including Nigeria agreed to ensure that 10 per cent of the national budget would be allocated to agriculture development.
Reacting, Gambo who described the realignment of the national budget to January every year as a historic move, commended President Bola Tinubu for sustaining it.
The NGF advisor, who stated this in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, explained that the figure was far less than the commitment of the Maputo declaration.
He stated, “Similarly, with an all-time high food inflation rate at 31.5 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, and the lingering security challenges in the core food basket states, the hope to end food insecurity in Nigeria has been dimmed.
“The previous challenges of poor extension services delivery, lack of high yielding qualitative hybrid seeds, high cost of fertilizers, lack of functional tractors and other agric equipment in most states, the never-ending farmers/pastoralists crisis, high post-harvest loses, lack of infrastructure for effective storage, marketing and transportation, and of course, kidnapping, maiming and killing of farmers on their farms are all very much around.”
Considering the appropriated amount, Gambo said navigating through such a myriad of perennial crises, would be a very daunting task for the brand-new Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
