Agriculture
THE Smallholder Women Farmers in Nigeria (SWOFON), says the reduction in 2020 budgetary provision for the agriculture sector will be detrimental to ensuring food security and employment.
Mrs Mary Afan, President of the association, said during a virtual news briefing on Monday in Abuja, on the proposed cuts to the agriculture budget.
Afan called on the Federal Government to increase the allocation to agriculture to N201.1billion, being at least five per cent of the overall budget and 50 per cent of the Maputo commitment.
According to her, where it is not possible, the original proposals in the 2020 budget for agriculture should be retained.
She said: “following the COVID-19 pandemic, the collapse of oil price and the constrained fiscal space, Nigeria needs to strategically spend available resources in the best value for money.
“This is to promote food security, job creation and facilitate timely exit from the impending recession.
“The federal government in its public expenditure management is expected to prioritise sectors that will contribute to the greatest reduction of poverty and inequality.
“Sectors that will ensure improvement in the standard of living, promote food sovereignty as well as cater to the growth of the economy through agro-based industrialisation and provision of raw materials for industries.
“No sector qualifies more than the agriculture sector for prioritisation.
“We recall the proposal by the Executive Arm to amend the 2020 Federal Budget and the cut in the vote of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.”
She further said that the proposal sought to reduce the recurrent vote of the Ministry by N721 million from N58.68 billion to N57.96 billion while the capital vote would be reduced from N124.39 billion to N79.01 billion.
“This amounts to a reduction of N45.38 billion representing 36 per cent reduction.
“Overall, the sector will suffer a vote reduction from N183.08 billion to N136.97 billion, a variance of 25 per cent amounting to N46.1billion.
“Essentially, from the proposed amendment, agriculture’s vote as a percentage of the overall appropriation will be a paltry 1.3 per cent.
“This is a reduction from the original proposal in the 2020 budget which is 1.73 per cent of the overall budget,” the association president said.
She also said, “we further recall that Nigeria’s Agriculture Policy 2016-2020 provides for increased budget investment and political support for gender mainstreaming and affirmative action in the sector between 2018 and 2020.
“Nigeria is a signatory to the Maputo and Malabo declarations and the comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme with commitments to dedicate not less than 10 per cent of the budget to agriculture.
“Nigeria is obliged to take steps, to the maximum of available resources, to guarantee freedom from hunger for citizens, to improve agricultural productivity and improve livelihoods.
“Between 2010 and 2020, Nigeria under-invested in agriculture and committed an average of 1.57 per cent of the overall budget to the sector while actual capital releases averaged 59.72 per cent.”
Afan said that SWOFON was concerned about small scale farmers, especially the female gender, who would be negatively impacted by the budget cuts.
She added that it would be unconscionable to cut those specific expenditure line items which would benefit small scale women, farmers, especially now.
“Agriculture is key to economic recovery. Agriculture contributes 25.2 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP. It was the backbone of Nigeria’s economy before the discovery of oil.
“Improved investments and returns in the agriculture value chain in a plethora of crops and animals, cassava, cocoa, corn millet, palm tree, sorghum, yam, goats, chicken, cattle among others will facilitate the diversification of the economy.
“It will create not less than a million jobs, and improve revenues for government and citizens.
“Women contribute significantly to the production of food consumed in Nigeria in 2019 which is worth over N11.3 trillion.
“Nigeria’s food imports rose by 45.6 per cent between 2016 and 2019. With diminished federal revenue, food importation is not an option anymore, she said.
On the impact of small scale women farmers in agriculture, the president said they were silent contributors, contributing significantly to local food production.
She also said women farmers constituted over 60 per cent of the agriculture labour force and provided inputs and functions that were critical to improved livelihoods.
“Our women’s efforts have not received enough budgetary support, facilitation and acknowledgement by successive governments.
“The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, which Nigeria is a signatory to, demands equality in agriculture.
“This is not just in terms of laws and policies but substantive equality in results and investment of public resources,” Afan said.
She stressed on the need for improved seeds and seedlings, fertilisers, pesticides, feeds, animal stock, storage facilities, rural road networks, irrigation facilities among others.
Afan called for sustainable funding of agriculture, saying it would lead to increased food production, jobs and poverty reduction.
She further called on the National Assembly to re-prioritise some of the expenditure items in the 2020 vote for agriculture.
She also called for the promotion of climate-smart agriculture through the mainstreaming of organic farming, organic fertilizers, resilience building and adaptation.
Afan said that with the shortage of revenue, occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant drop in global crude oil price, increased public investments in agriculture was required to lift the constraints on poor women farmers’ productivity. (NAN)
– June 9, 2020 @ 9:15 GMT |
Tags: Reduction of 2020 agric budget detrimental to food security – Association
