Stakeholders in agriculture in Kwara state have commended the state government through the state Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other agencies for improved food security measures put in place.
The commendation formed part of the communique issued at the end of a recent one-day stakeholders consultative meeting on the 2025 Kwara state budget on agriculture in Ilorin.
The meeting was organized by the Centre for Community Empowerment and Poverty Eradication (CEEPE), Kwara State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (KMARD), Small SmallScale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) and the Budget Committee Group (BCG).
The participants also observed that budgetary allocation to Agriculture sector in the state needed to be reviewed upwards in sync with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) objective.
The communique said that low budgetary performance, especially, in critical areas like irrigation support was a result non-release of funds for budget implementation.
The meeting, which also advised the state government to have a sustainable budget policy that would be able to promote food security, added that government should collaborate with National Centre for Mechanization (NCAM) on production and fabrication of handheld equipment for smallholder farmers in the state.
“Participants observed shoddy implementation of government programme in limited instances such as distribution of inputs (Fertilizers, seed) to some non-farmers on political grounds.
“The Women farmers request more training on modern farming practices, especially on backyard farming.
“Farmers with Disability and their peculiar needs are not provided for in the State Agriculture budget”, the communique stated.
In his address at the meeting, the state coordinator of the Centre for Community Empowerment and Poverty Eradication (CEEPE), Abdurrahman Ayuba, said that the meeting was aimed at strengthening citizens’ participation towards making 2025 Agriculture budget responsive to food systems transformation and wealth creation and supports effective synergy among all agriculture inclined MDAs in the State.
“It also provided stakeholders, especially smallholder women farmers, the opportunity to participate in agriculture policy and budget formulation processes resulting in changes in priority budget line items that are pro-farmers and in the approach of government’s implementation of programmes and projects.
A total of 37 participants attended the meeting which included Commissioner of Agriculture and Rural Development, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Directors from MDAs including RAAMP, FADAMA NG CARES, Kwara ADP, and members of Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) across 15 LGAs, Media and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
