Women call for 10% budgetary allocation to agric

The Kogi State chapter of Women in Agriculture has called on Federal and state governments to immediately implement the 2005 Maputo Declaration that recommended the allocation of 10 percent of anual budgets to agriculture.

The group stated this in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital at the end of their 2015 Women Farmers Forum.

According to a communiqué signed by Mrs Ketim Ocheja, the group said governments must muster enough political will to implement agricultural policies and programmes, noting that government, because of lack of political will, have continued to ignore policies and programmes that would have positively impacted on agricultural production.

“Ten years after signing the Maputo Declaration Commitment on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa, Nigeria and Kogi have continued to fall short of committing the minimum 10 per cent of their budgets to agriculture.

“There are many policies and programmes for agricultural development but the political will needed for their implementation is low,’’ they said.

Urging government to develop policy priorities that would put women farmers at the forefront of agricultural policies and programmes, the group
advocated for a review of existing land policy with emphasis on women ownership of land, regulation of the private sector involvement in agriculture and continued support of small scale farmers by government through capacity building.

The 2015 Women in Agriculture Forum was organised by ActionAid Nigeria in collaboration with Kogi-based Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development and Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria.

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