Stakeholders Criticise Low Budgetary Allocations For Agric

Stakeholders in the agricul
tural sector have criticised the low budgetary allocations for the agricultural sector in the three states of Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue.
The stakeholders, at a meeting in Jos recently observed that budgetary allocations for the sector in the three states were very low.
According to them, the situation is particularly bad since the states are key food producing states the nation depended upon for food sufficiency.
Individual and collective contributors at the meeting declared that the situation was “unacceptable”, and called for better allocations to ensure improved agricultural performance in the three north-central states.
Mr Salaudeen Hashim of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), for instance, described the allocations as ‘’too weak’’ for a nation keen on reviving the agricultural sector.
Salaudeen, in a paper at the validation/sensitisation meeting, which was organised by the Nigerian Association of Women in Agriculture (NAWIA), called for “an urgent change of attitude.”
The paper was titled: ‘’Trends in Agricultural Policies, Budgetary Allocation and Investment in Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau States.’’
According to Salaudeen, the three states also make very low budgetary provision for investment in agriculture by both public and private sectors.
He further explained that research institutes in the three states lacked adequate funding to carry out researches that would enable the agricultural sector move with modern innovations.
‘`From our research, we discovered that farming contributes 74 per cent of the total annual income of the inhabitants of these states, which implies that it used to be the major means of their livelihood.
“Unfortunately, the governments of these states do not have specific agricultural policies; very often too, they show many inconsistencies in policy pronouncements.
“Budgetary allocation to agriculture and investment from both public and private sector in Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states is completely weak,” he lamented.
Salaudeen also identified insecurity, inadequate credit facilities for small-holder farmers, lack of markets for farm produce, lack of storage and processing facilities, as other major challenges facing the sector in the states.
He added that activities of middlemen, non access to land by women willing to farm in large quantity, and inadequate extension workers posed serious threat to the growth of the agricultural sector.