By Luchee Igwe
The Small-scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON),
and Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), on Friday decried 1.9 per cent budgetary allocation to the Agriculture by Anambra State government.
The organisations in collaboration with the International Budget Partnership (IBP), expressed their displeasure at a town hall meeting in Awka, to present the 2022 Anambra state budget credibility research findings.
The event was aimed at analysing the impacts of the state 2022 budget on small scale women farmers, who constitute over 70 per cent of the entire agricultural workforce,.
Mr Martins Eke, Technical partner from CSJ, said that the N2.1 billion (1.9 per cent), allocated to agric from the N141.9 billion total budget in 2022 fell short of the 10 per cent Maputo Declaration benchmark.
Eke said there was the need for the state to increase the budgetary allocation agriculture to empower women, ensure food security and healthier families.
“When more is given to agriculture, it will trickle down to small scale farmers, especially women, some of whom are bread winners of their families.
“Such increased budgetary allocation will also translate to better life for the women, their families and relations will benefit from it,”Eke said.
In his presentation, Mr Olaniyi Olaleye, Programme Officer, IBP, said there were still credibility challenges with the Anambra 2022 budget especially in the area of agriculture.
Olaleye, however, commended Anambra state government for recording less budget deviation compared with several other states.
He urged the state government to ensure it involved critical stakeholders in budget planning, ensure timely allocation and implementation of the budget to record good budget performance.
Responding, Mrs Patricia Uba, Head, Women in Agric, Anambra Ministry of Agriculture commended SWOFON, Anambra state chapter for its doggedness in drawing government’s attention to small-scale farmers.
“A major challenge with budget performance in the ministry is non approval of some projects in the budget but we will continue to make efforts to support small scale farmers,” she said.
On his part, Mr Arthur Iwuanya, Director Planning, Anambra Ministry of Budget And Economic Planning, advised SWOFON to intensify advocacy to relevant government agencies.
“Intensify advocacy and present your charter of demand to reflect the state government’s transformation agenda. That way your group will be adequately recognised,” he said.
In her remarks, Mrs Georgina Akunyiba, Anambra state Coordinator, SWOFON, pledged to redouble efforts towards achieving their charter of demands to better the lots of small scale farmers in the state.
