Participants at a National Stakeholders Consultative Meeting on the 2023 Agriculture Budget have noted that the country’s food sector is facing new challenges, such as the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, which is affecting input prices and the availability of staples like wheat.
The event, which took place in Lagos on August 29 and 30, was designed to facilitate discussions among key stakeholders and connect the continental framework.
It was organised by ActionAid Nigeria; the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning; the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Oxfam; ONE Campaign; and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Economic Community of West African States.
A communiqué released on Wednesday quoted participants as saying that, “The Nigerian food sector is confronting new emerging challenges such as the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, which affects input prices and the availability of staples such as wheat.
“The challenges of increased banditry, farmer-herder clashes, climate change, floods, hazardous pesticides, and gender inequality persist, and without a deliberate rethink of our practices and approaches towards our food and nutrition security, the federal and state governments will not be able to eradicate these agricultural economic growth barriers.”
They also observed that Nigeria’s food import bill is increasing and the highest imports of agricultural goods into the country were recorded in 2021.
The communiqué continued, “Despite the challenges facing the Nigerian agricultural sector, the sector remains the largest contributor to Nigeria’s GDP in the 2nd quarter of 2022 at 23.3 percent, beyond the contributions of trade (16.8%), telecommunications (15 percent), manufacturing (8.7 percent), and the oil and gas sector (6.3 percent). The agricultural sector has the largest potential to lead millions of Nigerians out of poverty. Thus, the sector should be given utmost priority in national economic policies and national and sub-national budgets.
“Regrettably, the late releases of funds to the sector continue to impede the capacity of the Federal and State governments to drive socio-economic development, including food and nutrition security, within the policy thrust of the diversification of the economy towards agriculture.”
The participants urged the Federal and State Executives, National and State Houses of Assembly to scale up public investment in agriculture and ensure timely consideration, passage, and total budget releases as a strategic approach to increase food production, reduce hunger and poverty, and achieve the Maputo/Malabo commitments.
