The National Coordinator AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria, Princess Gloria Akobundu, has called on the federal government to allocate not less than 10% of the national budget to the agricultural sector, stressing that it plays an important role in the economic development of any nation.
Akobundu made the call Wednesday, in Abuja, in her address delivered at the closing ceremony of the summit on strengthening smallholder farmer capabilities towards productive land restoration amid covid-19 in Nigeria, held on the theme, “Building Resilient Communites and Strengthening Food Systems”.
According to Akobundu, “unlocking the country’s agricultural potential will creat jobs and provide food for domestic supply, thereby reducing the huge amount being spent on food imports”, stressing however the need for a change in strategy if the goal must be achieved.
She said, “Agriculture needs to. E treated as a business; not as a development program. There also has to be a better approach and a better rethink, and a part of that rethink will have to start in our education sector.
“Agriculture needs to be better presented in the school system to ensure that it will no longer be viewed by society as a lesser career choice. Also, government needs to allocate not less than 10% of the national budget to the sector,” she added.
She earlier explained that the AUDA-NEPAD white paper on mitigating the global impact of Covid19 pandemic with five key priorities including the strengthening of food systems.
“The program is focused at accelerating food security at the continent as well as cushion the effects of Covid19 amidst building long term resilience national/regional institutions strengthening for sustainable economic growth and development towards achieving the National Development Goals (NDG’s) of President Mohammadu Buhari.
In his remarks, the Chairman, National Steering Committee of the project Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara state, assured that the smallholder farmer is at the core of meeting domestic foodneeds, achieving food security and overall, actualizing the SDGS 1and 2 and the zero-hunger policy of The Federal Republic ofNigeria and The African Union.
He stressed the importance of supporting the productivity of
smallholder farmers as the countryand continent gradually work to cushion the economic and socialchallenges posed by the global pandemic as evident by the recent”End SARS” protests in Nigeria.
“This laudable project will foster inclusive, collaborative and responsive processes across the development cycle: from planning, implementation, to monitoring and evaluation,” he said.
