Allocate 10% of budgets to agriculture, Buhari tells African leaders
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Despite repeated promises to improve budgetary allocation, the agricultural sector has remained underfunded under Mr Buhari
President Buhari on Wednesday urged African leaders to allocate 10 per cent of their national budgets to the agricultural sector in order to promote food security.
He made the call in Senegal in his goodwill message at the Feed Africa Summit of heads of states and governments on Wednesday.
According to a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the president also called on his counterparts to embrace innovative policies that ensure the continent’s citizens eat what they produce as well as export the surplus.
With rising inflation globally and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that have driven up food prices, especially for basic staples such as wheat and maize, the Nigerian leader listed measures that African leaders must take to change the status quo.
‘‘Feeding Africa is an imperative. We must ensure that we feed ourselves today, tomorrow, and well into the future,” he said.
He said the starting point is to raise agricultural productivity, adding that this requires access to quality farm inputs, especially improved seeds, fertilizers and mechanization.
‘‘The share of budget allocation to agriculture should be increased across Africa, especially for investments in critical public goods, such as research and development, infrastructure, especially roads, irrigation, and energy.
‘‘As leaders, let us decisively ensure that we meet the 10 per cent allocation of our budgets to agriculture as agreed in the Malabo Declaration of the African Heads of State and Government. We must reduce the rate of rural to urban migration through the development of rural areas,’’ he said.
President Buhari’s admonition came despite the failure of his government to improve funding for agricultural sector in line with the Maputo agreement.
Maputo Declaration
The Maputo Declaration came into effect in 2003 and Nigeria upheld the agreement the next year, agreeing with other African countries to set aside at least 10 per cent of its yearly budgets to agriculture.
But the sector has remained underfunded under President Buhari, despite his repeated promises to revive it.
Mary Izuaka
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