Press Release by Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) & Gombe State Budget Committee Group (BCG) on the Gombe State 2024 Agriculture Budget Analysis Observations and Recommendations. May 2024.
Gentlemen of the Press,
I welcome you all to the SWOFON & Budget Committee Group annual press conference on Gombe State 2024 Agriculture sector budget analysis, observations, and recommendations.
Small Scale Women Farmer Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON) is a coalition of women farmers across Nigeria working together to promote women-friendly agricultural policies and increasing women’s access to land, farm inputs and funding, aimed at improving agricultural productivity. In Gombe State, we have consistently engaged the state government through the legislators and the executive arm.
Gombe State Budget Committee Group is a group of NGOs working on agriculture issues in collaboration with SWOFON to ensure food security in the State.
BACKGROUND
Gombe State Budget Committee Group carries out annually an analysis of the agriculture budget of the State and has conducted an analysis of the approved Gombe State 2024 Agriculture budget with the followings:
OBSERVATIONS:
The 2024 Agriculture budget for Gombe State is 4.0% of the total State Budget; based on this, the budgetary allocation to the sector has been on the radial of fluctuation from 2020 till date. Although the 2024 budget has seen an increase in the percentage allocation which is a commendable feat by the government, the allocation of only 4% to agriculture of the State’s overall budget is a far cry from the 10% benchmark of the Maputo declaration.
The Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security states that at least 10% of National and States’ Budget should be allocated to the agriculture sector. At the Second Ordinary Assembly of the African Union in July 2003 in Maputo, African Heads of State and Government endorsed the “Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa”. The Declaration contained several important decisions regarding agriculture, but prominent among them was the “commitment to the allocation of at least 10 percent of national and State budgetary resources to agriculture and rural development policy implementation” While Nigeria is a signatory to the Maputo Declaration signed at the second ordinary assembly of the African Union in July 2003, past governments have failed to comply with its recommendations.
Capital: Recurrent Allocation
The 2024 budget has maintained a higher capital allocation than the recurrent (58%:42%), year-on-year. This validates the posture and policy indications of the government to spend more in projects that influence the lives of the citizens especially in the communities.
Per Capita Investment
Based on a 2.3% growth rate of the 2006 population census, Gombe population 2024 projected population is 3,968,000. With an allocation of N8, 426,300,000.00 to the agriculture sector, the per capita investment will amount to N2,123.56k. This points to poor appreciation of the importance of the sector in the State development and poverty reduction. This spending is still grossly inadequate considering the current economic challenges, trends and depreciation in the value of the Naira.
Women and Youth in Agriculture
Women and Youths form most of the target population involved in farming especially at the community levels. It becomes imperative that provisions for interventions be made to specifically address their needs. Previous budgets have made appreciable allocations for this however; the 2024 budget has seen a reduction in this allocation.
Small-scale women farmers play a crucial role in ensuring food security and economic development in Gombe State and Nigeria as a whole; it is in this regard that the Gombe State Government created a budget line for the support of Support for small holder women farmers (SWOFON) with an allocation of 50Million Naira in the 2024 budget. Regrettably, this allocation is 28% less than that of 2023(70M).
We also observed with appreciation the budget line for youth in agriculture approved for the sum of N 20, 000, 00.00 although there hasn’t been any release in the previous years. We are calling on the Government to release these funds in order to engage the youth in the State.
Agricultural Finance/Credit
We observed that there is no provision for agricultural credit for farmers in the budget. We call on Gombe State Ministry of Agriculture to create a yearly Strengthening Access to Credit budget line to support women, youths and farmers living with disability cooperatives to be able to navigate the too cumbersome access to credit in Nigeria.
Farm Inputs
Farm inputs in Agriculture are a yardstick for determinants of production yield and usually take a lion share of the budget for the sector. The provision for fertiliser subsidy (1 billion Naira) and Agricultural inputs (N30M) in the 2024 budget is commendable. This is also a great improvement in the allocated funds of 800M and 25M for the same budgeted items in 2023.
We urge the Government to endeavor to provide organic fertilisers rather than the inorganic types within this allocation and also to ensure full and timely release of funds to purchase the needed inputs and made available to farmers. The subsidized fertilizer should be sold at reasonable and affordable rates to smallholder women farmers.
Other visible attempt at allocating resources for mobilization of agricultural inputs are as outlined in the following budget line item:
Purchase of 2 Tractors (Ministry of Agriculture) – N200million
Refurbishing of tractors & implements- N15million
Purchase of ox and ox-drawn implements- N100million
01030223000100 – intensive crop and vegetable production (irrigation, crop diversification etc.) – N287,000,000.00
The above allocation directed towards the purchase of two tractors in the entire State though commendable but for better agricultural output for 2024 and beyond, the government should consider purchasing simple mechanized farm equipment to enable farmers in the State especially women to have access to such modern machines that will enhance their farm productivity.
Extension Services
Agricultural Extension (also known as agricultural advisory services) plays a crucial role in boosting agricultural productivity, increasing food security, improving rural livelihoods, and promoting agriculture for poverty alleviation. The Gombe State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) is the key platform for the mobilization and provision of Agriculture Extension services.
2024 available N5, 000,000 (Five Million Naira) for agricultural extension programmes and the sum of N15, 000,000 (Fifteen Million Naira) for the training of extension agents for the year.
While we commend the deliberate efforts at equipping the extension workers with the modern skills and knowledge on farming techniques, it will be useless, if plans are not made to translate such knowledge to reality through advisory services to the end users (farmers). We also urge the Government to ensure allocations regarding extension services to be done under the ADP rather than the Ministry of Agriculture.
Labour Saving Technologies
Technologies that enable smallholder farmers save time and energy on the farm has been shown to improve livelihoods and enhance productivity and raise crop yields. These technologies could include drought resistant seeds, simplified mechanical devices for tilling, planting and harvesting etc. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), there is a new sense of urgency to revisit Labour Saving technologies and practices (LSTAPs) which can reduce drudgery in farming.
We commend the Government for the provision for purchase of ox and oxen-drawn implements (N100M) in the 2024 budget which is a great improvement from the 15M allocated in 2023. However, experience had showed challenges on persistent non- releases of budget line for these items.
Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA)/Agroecology
With increase in climatic changes (e.g global warming, floods, etc.) and its adverse effects on the yield in agriculture together with the insecurity as a result of food insecurity, there is need for climate resilient/agroecological practices and technology for sustainable food production to mitigate climate change. These practices include improved soil and land management practices, crop production interventions and cropping systems organic manures and pesticide etc.
The 2024 budget has not made provision for Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture. The situation has been the same for years despite advocacies by the Budget committee for the government to adopt climate resilient sustainable agriculture due to climatic change globally.
Research and Development
The development of a credible and reliable research and development base for sustainable Agriculture is critical for a viable food secured society. The availability of reliable data for planning coupled with a strong culture of crop research to produce climate resilient seedlings and inputs, is important going forward. There was no allocation for research and development in the 2024 Agriculture Budget giving its importance in the 21st century farming business and most importantly now that the economy is mostly dependent on agriculture.
Post-Harvest Losses
Post-harvest losses are a significant factor in the improvement of agriculture, especially for smallholder farmers in Gombe State. The 2024 budget has allocated N 10,000,000.00 (Ten Million naira) for intervention in reducing post-harvest losses. This is commendable; however, the same amount was budgeted for in 2023 without any releases.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Monitoring and Evaluation, as well as Coordination as important as monitoring and evaluation, it is unfortunate that there was not budgetary allocation to monitoring and evaluation in the 2024 agricultural sector budget. This has become a recurring decimal in the Gombe state ministry of agriculture and food security budgeting template.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Increase funding to the sector to meet the 10% Maputo declaration: There is need to increase funding to Agriculture sector to meet up with the 10% commitment. This can be done by progressively increasing the budget. The increase should also be channeled to capital expenditure and increase in overheads that facilitates the realisation of the sector’s objectives. The capital expenditure should be more of developmental capital expenditure as against administrative capital expenditure.
The Strengthening Access to Credit budget line for women and youths as allocated should focus on getting consultants or consultancy firms to support women, youths and farmers living with disability cooperatives to be able to navigate the too cumbersome access to credit in Nigeria. The team or consultancy firms will handhold the cooperatives to access existing CBN agricultural credit facilities through preparing their business proposals, interfacing, and negotiating with BOA, Bank of Industry, NIRSAL, commercial and microfinance banks. The team or consultancy firm will ensure that the cooperatives access such facilities and other services like extension, insurance, etc. and even market access and they are able to pay back at the end of each cycle, etc.
The allocation of N15, 000,000 to Extension workers capacity building is commendable considering the need for enhanced capacity and skills to engage farmers on emerging farming techniques. However, the transfer of knowledge and skills to end users (farmers) will be truncated as funds are not budgeted to support extension service provision in 2024 approved budget. There is an urgent need to increase the allocation to extension services.
We observed that provision was made for post-harvest losses reduction intervention. This is important as Gombe State suffers from huge annual post-harvest losses with a share out of the national estimated losses of N3.5 trillion annually. We urge the state government to urgently support Smallholder women farmers in Gombe State with Post-Harvest Losses Reduction Supports (processing facilities, storage facilities, trainings, market access, etc.). We recommend prompt releases and an increase in future funding.
Small-scale women farmers play a crucial role in ensuring food security and economic development in Gombe State and Nigeria as a whole. We commend the allocations of N50, 000,000.00 in the 2024 budget to Support the small holder women farmers (SWOFON) in the State. We also recommend prompt releases and an increase in future funding.
Enhanced legislative oversight of the sector: The State House of Assembly Committee on Agriculture needs to enhance its oversight functions and mandate over the management of public funds in the sector to guarantee greater value for money and ensure the total and timely releases of funds allocated.
We observed with appreciation the effort made by the state to involve smallholder women farmers organizations and civil society organizations in its budget processes. This has shown clearly that the government has listened to the calls by and civil society organisations participation in the budget process. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security should create a forum for consultation as part of the budget preparation processes by organizing a stakeholder’s consultative meeting on the budget before budget call for circulars.
Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture (CRSA)/Agroecology and Inclusion of Issues of climate change: It is recommended that the government creates a budget line and implement Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture projects in the state.
Research and Development: There is need for government to allocate funds for research and development in the agriculture budget of the state.
Long live SWOFON, long live Gombe State, and Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Thank you.
Signed
Airudia Mamman State Coordinator, SWOFON
