Stakeholders in the agricultural sector Thursday called on government to ensure implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) conceived in 2003 by the African Union (AU) Heads of States and Governments.
The call was made during a one-day state dialogue to appraise the Nigerian Agriculture Sector Performance at the 2nd Africa Union Biennial Review and Agriculture Joint Sector Review Report organised by Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development, an implementation partner for ActionAid Nigeria held in Lokoja, Kogi state.
The executive director of PIBCID, Halima Sadiq, in her remarks called for a strong commitment for the implementation of the Malabo agreement by African governments for allocation of a minimum of 10 per cent annual budget to agriculture if the country is to make any meaningful impact on the sector.
She lamented that the Malabo agreement which was to ensure food production in the African continent that has a growing population of 1.3 billion people in the continent with over 200 million living in Nigeria, needs an improvement in funding of the agriculture sector towards attaining food availability.
She stated that based on the current population growth rate in Nigeria, the country’s population is expected to double in 25 years and lamented that the agricultural production growth rate which stands at less than 2.5 per cent annually, remains insignificant and negligible to feed the growing population.
Sadiq called for increased funding in meeting the Malabo agreement towards attaining the 10 per cent target as a major step towards cutting down yearly food importation.
She suggested that with the rich fertile land in the country, if government can support the right investments, it would address the challenges of food scarcity, ensure food availability, create wealth and reduce unemployment.
She added that the dialogue seeks to assess the country’s performances made in terms of meeting the Malabo agreement in meeting the continental target towards providing 10 per cent annual budget to agriculture sector.
She lamented that at the last count, Nigeria could only make 5.8 per cent budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector.
Presenting the biennial scorecard, Mr Friday Ogazi of ActionAid Nigeria, said the nation’s score card which stand at 5.18 per cent is lower than the benchmark of 6.66 per cent and called for greater and serious commitment to meeting the Malabo agreement and food sufficiency by 2025.
Making a presentation on Nigeria’s Current Biennial Review Score, Process, Challenges and Solutions, he called for a recommitment to the values of CAADP, enhancing investment in financing agriculture, commitment to ending hunger in Africa by 2025 and halving poverty by 2025 through inclusive Agricultural growth and transformation.
