Traders’ union pushes for implementation of Africa’s Agric policy
The National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) and its partners have urged the Federal Government to exploit the potentials of the Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the implementation of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) framework to boost economic growth of the country due to its practicability and wide acceptability. NANTS’ President, Barrister Kenneth Ukaoha, […]
The National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) and its partners have urged the Federal Government to exploit the potentials of the Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the implementation of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) framework to boost economic growth of the country due to its practicability and wide acceptability.
NANTS’ President, Barrister Kenneth Ukaoha, made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at a two-day capacity building workshop on CAADP/2014 Malabo Declaration, Joint Sector Reviews, National Agricultural Investment Plans and other Agricultural Policy instruments for small scale farmers and NSAs organised by NANTS/TrustAfrica.
The workshop was to strengthen the knowledge and capacity of NSAs on policy frameworks and processes of CAADP implementation.
It was also aimed at facilitating the development of appropriate mechanisms that will maximize the impact of NSA engagement in the CAADP process in Nigeria.
He said the clear understanding of the CAADP and its commitments will help the NSAs to engage the process in a systematic pattern that facilitates proper focusing and operational synergy in achieving the fundamental objectives of food security and poverty reduction in Nigeria and Africa.
“As you would recall, CAADP aims at stimulating and facilitating increased agricultural performance through improvements in policy and institutional environments, access to improved technologies and information, and increased agricultural financing and other forms of investment.
“In furtherance of the implementation of the CAADP commitments, CAADP Results Framework was developed, for tracking, assessing and reporting progress made under the AU Malabo Declaration.
“Some of the elements which can as well be described as the key principles of CAADP are Mutual Accountability, Joint Sector Reviews and Biennial Reviews including the national instruments such as the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) and National Agricultural Investment Plans (NAIP).
“It has been generally observed that some of these instruments sound complex to many Non-State Actors and Stakeholders who are the core advocates and/or recipients of benefits of CAADP.
“NANTS believes that NSAs must strengthen their knowledge and capacity on the policy frameworks and processes of CAADP implementation in order to facilitate the development of appropriate mechanisms that will help to maximize the impact of NSA engagement in the CAADP process in Nigeria,” Ukaoha said.
He said that with the drastic drop in the price of crude oil and the need to diversify the economy, one of the key objectives of the workshop is to draft an action plan for areas in which the NSAs engagement in the CADDP process can be strengthened for the implementation of the Malabo Declaration.