FG’s slash of agric budget: Doubt clouds farmers’ expectations

At a  time when experts and many Nigerians are calling on the government to respect the Maputo Declaration on agriculture by dedicating 10 percent of its annual resources to the sector as agreed in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, government is cutting down even the meager 2 percent  its gives the sector.In 2013, the federal government […]

At a  time when experts and many Nigerians are calling on the government to respect the Maputo Declaration on agriculture by dedicating 10 percent of its annual resources to the sector as agreed in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, government is cutting down even the meager 2 percent  its gives the sector.
In 2013, the federal government budgeted N83, 762,937, 710 billion for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. N50, 647,871,428 billion was to be spent on capital projects while N33, 115,066,282, was for the ministry’s recurrent expenditure, in order to transform agriculture from development approach to business through selected value chain crops.
This year, the federal government has decided to reduce budget allocation to the sector by N17 billion indicating willingness to spend only N66.6 billion in 2014.  
A breakdown of this year’s budget shows that N35.1 billion is for capital projects while N31.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure.
In the 2013 budget, N6.2 billion was spent on fertilizer subsidy through the GES; a scheme that allows government to get agro inputs directly to farmers by eliminating middlemen. Yet many farmers could not get the inputs despite registration and the e-wallet messages sent to them.
For the 2014 agro year, government budgets over N2.6 billion for organic and inorganic fertilizers. Of this amount, organic fertilizer takes N475.6 million while inorganic fertilizer got N2.1 billion.
These figures indicate a huge cut on fertilizer funds, which means farmers, particularly the small farm holders, may face difficulty getting adequate fertilizer this year through the GES. With this allocation to fertilizer in the 2014 Appropriation Bill, the provision of the federal government’s subsidized fertilizer and other farm inputs that were not enough in 2013 will be far less this year.
In the area of seed and seedlings, government appropriated N3.4 billion in order to reach farmers and another N1.6 billion for improved seeds and seedlings in the 2013 fiscal year. With this amount, government could not reach all registered farmer in the country.
For 2014, government plans to spend only N2.2 billion on seeds and seedlings and another N1.2 billion on improved seeds and seedlings. This implies that less seeds and seedlings will be distributed to farmers this year compared to the more than double provided last year which the farmers said was not enough.
In terms of getting agro inputs to farmers in 2013, N115 million was allocated to fertilizer; credit facility got N650 million while access to seeds and seedlings got N85 million.
 In 2014, access to fertilizer got N37 million, while the same amount N650million, which was allocated to access to credit facility in 2013 budget was maintained in this year’s appropriation bill.
Government plans to spend more on research and development this year as a total of N836.9 million was allocated to it. This is a significant increase from the N384 million allocated in 2013. On the other hand, agro chemicals received less allocation this year as N723.01million, as against the N1.3 billion budgeted in 2013.
Rural access roads remain a serious hurdle in many agrarian communities across the country. Farmers across the country have difficulty getting their farm produce from the farms to markets. Government budgets N1.5 billion for road construction in rural areas.
Small farm holders all over the country still rely on crude implements such as hoes, cutlass, animals and traditional method to cultivate land and harvest their crops. Mechanized agriculture, where machines are used, is still far from the reach of average farmers in Nigeria. To ease these problems, government set aside the sum of N13.951 billion for the purchase of agric equipment.
To solve the problem of availability of agro facilities in the country, government earmarks N11.049 billion to establish and upgrade facilities in that sector of the economy.
For many farmers and stakeholders, this year’s budget falls short of expectations and does not come close to the Maputo Declaration to which the country is a signatory.
Dr Abba Abdullah, Managing Consultant, AquaGric Limited and President Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) said the meagre budgetary allocation to the agric sector in 2014 falls way below the Maputo Declaration where at least 10 percent of national budgetary resources is required to be allocated to agriculture by countries that want to be self sufficient in food production.
“By this Nigeria doesn’t seem to agree with this declaration, of which it is a signatory, and therefore we will not attain the desired agriculture sector development that will replace oil’s role in our economy,” he said.
Commenting, the chief executive officer of Finger Farms, an Abuja multipurpose production farm, Alhaji Tukur Musa, said the federal and state governments are not yet serious on Nigeria’s attainment of self sufficiency in food production.
“Every country of the world that has attained or is working towards attaining self sufficiency in food production will prepare its farmers towards achieving that goal. You cannot achieve that when your farmers lack the capacity. US, the UAE and all other developed economies attained self sufficiency in food by empowering their farmers with good resources and modern equipment.
“You want to attain self sufficiency in food and you are slashing agric budget. How can you achieve that? How can you develop a hungry nation? We should try and be serious for once,” he said.