‘Commodity marketing boards should be created’

The commodities boards would help in protecting the farmers, especially the small-scale holders, from the vagaries and whims of market forces, and the need to guarantee market stability for agricultural produce, and protect and sustain farmers’ interest in agricultural production. The report also recommended that policies be put in place to attract Nigerian youths to study […]

The commodities boards would help in protecting the farmers, especially the small-scale holders, from the vagaries and whims of market forces, and the need to guarantee market stability for agricultural produce, and protect and sustain farmers’ interest in agricultural production.
 The report also recommended that policies be put in place to attract Nigerian youths to study agricultural related courses in colleges of agriculture, polytechnics and universities.
 It said such courses and the outcome of the research should be re-tailored towards developing curricular and researches aimed at developing local technologies that are sustainable and adaptable to local manpower usage.
 To ensure effective policy implementation and harmonization, the committee recommended the establishment of a National Agricultural Programme Co-ordinating Agency.
 The agency would provide technical support to the states in planning, formulating and designing agricultural programmes based on the states priority and comparative advantage, working closely with the state agencies.
 It would also assist the states in carrying out periodic evaluation and particularly impact assessment of the state and federal projects and programmes; and coordinate the gathering, up-dating and dissemination of national agricultural data including marketing and price information.
 The report observed that aside from technical policy issues, one area of concern to stakeholders has been the over-concentration and centralization of agricultural development programmes at the federal level and described it as being operationally and politically unhealthy for the system.
 It said there was need to revisit the sectoral governance structure in order to strengthen the institutional framework based on a much greater implementable devolution of functions from the federal to the states and local governments.
It said the federal government should substantially divest from direct programme implementation in the field and concern itself mainly with regulatory policy issues and the articulation of strategic national direction; provide guidance to states; among others.