Experts advocate broader inclusion in agric budgeting

Economic and agricultural experts have called for broader inclusion of stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of budgetary allocation for the agricultural sector to engender economic growth and national development.


Mr Aso Patrick Vakporaye, Assistant Director Economic Growth Department Ministry of Budget and National Planning; Barrister Eze Onyekpere, Lead Director Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and Azubike Nwokoye, Food and Agriculture Programme Advisor, ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) gave the advice in Kaduna.

They spoke at the “Stakeholders Consultative Meeting on 2018 Agriculture Budget” organised by the Action Aid Nigeria (AAN) and the Ministry of Budget and National Planning (MBNP).

The meeting which was first held in 2016 was, among others, convened to facilitate conversations among key stakeholders connecting the continental framework on the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) targets and government intentions within the Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP).

Vakporaye who spoke on the Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS), Planning and Budgeting Processes in Nigeria: The Need for the increased participation of all levels of stakeholders in the Agriculture Sector, said a major improvement to the planning and budgetary process in the form of transparency by the ministry was the introduction of stakeholders to have a say on how the budget is put together, and making it more open to the public.

“Presently, there is no such formal mechanism in the country that invites citizens to participate in the budgeting process. In the agriculture sector, smallholder farmers, especially women and advocacy stakeholders (CSOs), have not been involved sufficiently in the consultations. The esoteric language and presentation style of the budget documents prevent the public from understanding the real content and importance of the documents.

“Even the legislators who are supposed to influence the budget do not possess the skills and information that would enable them to engage in a critical discourse of the matter. Also, the role of civil society organisations is limited due to the lack of databases and information,” Vakporaye said.

On his part Onyekpere speaking on the Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP) and the Agriculture Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), said that while the APP is a sectoral policy, the ERGP is overall broad policy framework that covers the field and can only reflect the key principles of the APP in its agriculture provisions.

“Thus, it needs not be as detailed as the APP. However, the framework of the ERGP must be broad enough to accommodate the specifics of the APP,” he said.


According to him, Agriculture is central to the pillars of ERGP for 2020 and that restoring growth will involve the improvement of agricultural productivity and utilization, and conversion of agriculture commodities into finished valuable product.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Agric forum to encourage greater technology use by women

Image
Organizers of a one-day agricultural forum for women in Benin, the Edo State capital, have said the event will focus on increasing the awareness of available agricultural and outreach technologies for women in agriculture. The forum which will be anchored by Market Development Programme in the Niger Delta (MADE) with funding from UK Aid, is collaborating with Markets II, funded by USAID and Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta, PIND and the Edo State Cooperative Farmers’ Agency is being held for womenas part of activities to mark this year’s International Women’s Day. Mr. Fidelis Ekom, MADE’s Communications and Advocacy Manager, in a statement at the weekend said the forum also seeks to facilitate mindset change for women in the adoption of modern technologies and to facilitate engagement between women in agriculture and relevant value chain actors. Ekom said the forum will bring together women farmers in aquaculture, cassava, palm oil, poultry, hon
Read more

7 FEPSAN members to produce 1m tonnes under Presidential Fertiliser Initiative

Image
Seven active blending companies within the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) have been revived and are among the 1st of five batches that would produce 1 million tonnes of fertiliser under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, Thomas Etuh, President of FEPSAN has said. Etuh who disclosed this while speaking on Presidential Fertiliser Initiative noted that most of the plants owned by FEPSAN members are being revived after being dormant for over a decade. He expressed the hope that more plants would join the initiative before the end of April “Some of the blending plants which have already been supplied with raw materials including phosphate from Morocco and are blending include Fertiliser and Chemicals Ltd, Kaduna, producing 300,000 metric tonnes; Al-Yuma Fertilizer Company (300,000 metric tonnes) in Madobi-Kano; Kano Agricultural Supply Company, supplying 15 trailers daily and Golden Fertiliser based in Lagos. “Others blending plants ha
Read more

Over 100 exhibitors from 18 countries register for agrofood Nigeria 2017

Image
Fairtrade, the German trade fair specialist organisation, has said more than 100 exhibitors from 18 countries have confirmed their participation at the agrofood Nigeria, making it a record participation. The event which will take place from 28 to 30 March 2017 at the Landmark Centre in Lagos has attracted exhibitors from Austria, Benin, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Taiwan, Togo, Turkey and the United Kingdom. agrofood Nigeria consists of the following exhibition topics: Agriculture, Process & Packaging, Food Ingredients, Food & Drinks and Foodservice Equipment. “For the third year, the French agrofood association adepta leads a delegation of French companies to agrofood Nigeria”, said Aude Roelly, Area Sales Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, adepta. “From farm to fork, companies specialized into equipment and know-how for agriculture, livestock, food processing and packaging offer their
Read more